My Life
by Akirina
Summary: Mikan overhears her parentage and she has a secret that no one knows. After joining the D.A, she goes to the AAO with her mother and returns after 2 years. However, Yuka and Mikan are planning to side with the Academy and go against the AAO.
1. Chapter 1

My Life

It was a few weeks after New Year or, you could say, the accident with Persona. Even though Tono-sempai did not say anything, I figured it out myself. I had another Alice, and it was the same one as that woman. Azumi Yuka. I had heard Tono-sempai discussing it with Imai-san, Sakurano-san, Hotaru and Ruka-pyon. It did not sound interesting, I was about to interrupt them when my name came up.

"What should we tell her? Mikan has a right to know about the second Alice she has. She'll find out sooner or later." Ruka-pyon was saying. I stopped dead in my tracks.

"Yes, I know that too. The Stealing Alice is very rare and should be placed in the Dangerous Abilities Class. I think we should keep this quiet for the meantime. Let her think that Imai managed to heal her. If this case gets to the ears of the Elementary Principal, she'll be sent off to a place that none of us wants her to be. It's the most dangerous ability in Gakuen Alice." Sakurano told them. I could think of one Alice that had an exception to his statement. _That_ person.

"There's no doubt that she has that Alice. Since her mother is Azumi Yuka… and her father is…" Tono trailed off into silence. I turned and ran away as fast as I could, hoping to keep back the feeling of horror as I tried to find a secluded place to stay until I could calm down.

I was feeling rather…sad, today. Like there was something to be remembered. It did not help that Azumi Yuka's face kept popping up in my mind every five minutes, like an alarm clock. But I was acting a little strange, enough for Iinchou to notice and ask me what was wrong. I shrugged and replied him with an 'I don't know.'

Finally, it was free period. I excused myself from my usual group of friends and wandered into the forest. I found a tree that looked easy to climb and had thick branches of leaves that obscured it from view. I climbed up the tree and leaned my head against the trunk. Then I finally remembered, today was the day when Kai died. This was a secret that I could tell no one……

~*~*~*

Mikan-5 years old

I had a brother. His name was Kai Sakura. Kai looks a lot like Father, but his Alice is from mother. Like me, Kai had two Alices- the Teleportation Alice and the Duplication Alice. Kai was two years older than me. His birthday was, coincidentally, on the same day and month as mine- 1st of January, born at the same time as me. He was not sent to Gakuen Alice. Mother kept it a secret from everyone, even the strange men who visited from time to time. Kai was forbidden to use his powers in front of others. Ah, as I remember, Shiki was among them too. He used to play with Kai and I when Mother and the others were having their meeting. I caught a few words from time to time; they were talking about an Anti Alice Organization and Gakuen Alice. I never understood what they meant and decided to take it as some type of code.

When I was six years old, I found out that I had the Nullification Alice. Kai made me keep it a secret from Mother and the strange men. I pestered Kai, demanding the reason, why he did not want Mother to know. At last, he told me the reason; Mother was opposed to one of the principals in Gakuen Alice. If anyone were to know that I had the Nullification Alice, both sides would want me, and having me on either side would bring harm to me. He was leaving something out. He knew that too.

"I'll tell you when the time comes." Kai told me. But he never got to it.


	2. Chapter 2

I really hope that's an ok for you all… this is my first time writing. Thanks, WinglessDreams! Please, if you find some part of the story not good, that needs improvement, please send me a review!

"_I'll tell you when the time comes." Kai told me. But he never got to it._

When I reached seven, my happy moments with my family were destroyed, or you could say, became a nightmare. It has been five years since that day…

I remembered the strange men coming to my house as usual. They talked to Mother in loud voices. Shiki stayed near the back as usual, doing nothing. Then the argument started. I could only get a gist of what was happening: they wanted to take Kai away. They never knew that Kai had the Duplication Alice, a secret kept from them, like my Alice. Eventually, Mother lost the argument, Kai was being dragged away; but he put up a fight.

One of the men slapped Kai in the face. "Shut up! It looks like we have to brain-wash you when we get to HQ."

I ran out, shouting, "NO! Don't take my brother away! Please!" I dropped to my knees in front of the man. He looked like a weasel. Weasel-guy smirked as an idea hit him. He pointed a gun at my forehead and told Kai, "If you continue struggling, I'll shoot your little sister in the head." He sneered as he said 'little sister'.

"No! I'll do whatever you want. Please, don't shoot her." Kai compromised them. He stopped struggling and walked with away with the other men. They released him, sure that he would not run away. Weasel-guy looked a teeny bit disappointed; he put down the gun and walked back to the transport.

"Bastard! Moron! Weasel-face!" I shouted after the guy. Weasel snapped. Apparently, insults got on his nerves. He turned around and pointed the gun at my head.

"No! STOP!" I heard Kai roar as he leapt forward towards me. I closed my eyes. So this was how I was going to die.

"Goodbye, Kai, my brother." I whispered.

**BANG!**

I felt something heavy leaning onto me. I was not dead? I opened my eyes, confused. There was definitely a bang… Something caught my eye. Red, red liquid was flowing around me. I looked for the source of it and gasped. Kai. He was lying in front of me. Blood was flowing from his wound. I could tell it was too late. His face was really pale, chalk-white; he was coughing up blood, the bullet had caught him near his heart. I gasped.

"KAI!" I screamed as I dropped down to my knees. He smiled weakly at me. Then raised his hand and touched my cheek. I held it there with both of my hands. My brother was dying. My brother was DYING! Tears welled and pooled out of my eyes.

"Mi…kan…don't…cry…My…Alice…" he was cut of by a bought of coughing. He was coughing up blood. I panicked. I glanced around. Mother was in the house, she did not seem to have heard the gun shot. It was either that or Shiki was with her, explaining the situation to her.

"Al-Ali...ce…I...give…it…you…" his hand dropped from my face. His whole body went limp.

"KAI!!" I screamed, my voice was trembling. This had to be wrong, Kai was not dead. God would not do something as cruel as that. Kai was… Kai was…

_He's dead. Just accept it already, Mikan. But he will always be a part of you._ A more mature part of me told me. There was a fire spreading through my body from my cheek, it was not painful…but it was from Kai, I was sure. Then, I blacked out.

~*~*~*~

I jerked up. A flood of memories clouded my mind. Kai was dead. I…was the cause of it. I made Kai die. I covered my face with my hands.

"Mikan? You're awake. Finally." A voice saturated with relief pierced through my thoughts. I looked up. An elderly man was standing by my bedside. He carried a basin of water. He smiled at me sadly.

"Where's Mother? Is she alright?" that was the first question that popped out of me. After all, she was my only relative. The man's face fell. He looked rather familiar… Oh yeah, he was Grandpa. He visited once in a blue moon, it had been three years since I had seen him. His hair seemed to be grayer than the other time we had met.

"She… She's gone, Mikan." Grandpa said, reluctantly.

"She's gone? Where? Where has she gone?" I asked. She could not be dead! Please! She could not have committed suicide nor done something else! I was her only child now! What was she thinking! Grandpa shook his head sadly. Then, he left the room. Grief tore at my heart. The pain was just too much. I couldn't handle it. I made my decision. I locked away the memories, until…I was strong enough to handle the pain. Although, on this day, I would wake up screaming. In my dreams, there would be blood, blood covering everything. Then Kai would appear, his hand outstretched toward me. Then I would wake up.

A layer of blackness covered my eyes and I slipped into a dreamless sleep.

I opened my eyes. I was still lying on the branch. Then I squinted. Huh? The sun was setting already? I climbed down the tree and stretched. Urgh, I was feeling so stiff. How long had I been up in that tree? I walked out of the forest.

"There she is!" I heard someone shout. I turned around and saw Hotaru, Permy and the others running towards me.

**BAKA! BAKA!**

"Ow! Hotaru! What was that for?" I cried, rubbing my head.

"For wasting my time, Baka." Hotaru said emotionlessly.

"Are you all right, Mikan? You look rather pale. Where were you anyway? We couldn't find you anywhere." Iinchou told me, he looked concerned.

"It's nothing. I fell asleep on a tree… He he! Sorry for making you all worry!" I said brightly, hoping to convince them.

"Naru-sensei is freaking out already. I thought you were kidnapped by the AAO-" Ruka-pyon started to say, but he broke off at a glare from Hotaru.

"What? Why would I be kidnapped by the AAO? I thought they were after Natsume." I asked, trying to act confused. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Hotaru's eyes gleam menacingly. Uh oh, Ruka-pyon was in deep trouble, this time…

"Uh…Uh… It's nothing." Ruka-pyon stuttered nervously. I smiled at him and he blushed slightly.

~*~*~*~

I lied in bed that night, trying to decipher what Kai had said about his Alice… I pondered slowly… Then a possibility occurred to me. It could not have been that Kai had transferred his Alice to me? Impossible. But, yet, as I considered it, I felt warmth spreading through me. I closed my eyes and I saw a diagram, two lines that were running parallel beside each other- Nullification and Stealing. Then there was another line that joined the two and another ability that was connected to me. The Duplication Alice. A shiver ran down my spine. Another line was there too. It was faint at the bottom, but grew clearer as it went up. His teleportation ability had fused with mine, it was mine forever. I felt the tears roll down my cheeks. Sleep overtook me.

~*~*~*~

"Oi, watch where you're going, polka. Or should I say hello kitties?" Natsume said as I tripped over him.

" Ew!! Pervert! Natsume, you big idiot!" I shrieked at him.

"Tch." Natsume smirked at her. Then I turned away from him and went to the Sakura tree that was farthest away from him. I sat down and continued pondering the subject my mind had been on…_**before**_ Natsume that big idiot saw **that**. I blushed. Idiot Natsume! Curse that guy! He was so annoying. I wished he was wearing a skirt, then he would realize how embarrassing it was to have someone say that he saw **that**. I fumed.

"Is there anything wrong, Sakura-san?" I heard someone say. I looked up and saw Ruka-pyon looking down at me with a concerned expression. I smiled and shook my head. Then he sat down beside me.

"You're spacing out. I called out to you just now, you didn't seem to be listening, so I came over to see what was wrong." Ruka-pyon told me.

"Sorry. I was thinking about some things…" I fell silent. After a moment of silence, I said, "Ruka-pyon? Do you remember that day…we saw…Azumi Yuka?"

He nodded his head.

"I heard your discussion. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have eavesdropped. I didn't mean it. I was about to go in, then I heard you all mention her. She's my mother, isn't she?" I asked softly. He stiffened.

"You're not supposed to know that. Hotaru will kill me, for sure now." Ruka-pyon moaned. I felt a little guilty. Ruka-pyon was in trouble because of me… Well, I had a right to know what was happening, I thought defensively.

"I'm sorry, Ruka-pyon! I'll explain it to Hotaru… Hopefully she'll understand…" I told him. Yeah, hopefully; she'll probably just hit me in the head with her Baka gun. "We could just keep it a secret." I told Ruka, giving him another option to choose.

He shuddered. "Urgh, we'd better tell her now before she gives us a horrible punishment when she finds out. You can never hide anything from Hotaru."

I nodded. But I was sure Hotaru would not forgive me for eavesdropping on a private conversation. Although I was not aware, someone seemed to be glaring daggers at me as I went with Ruka-pyon to find Hotaru.

I want to thank WinglessDreams and Emmoria for finding my story interesting!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

_Although I was not aware, someone seemed to be glaring daggers at me as I went with Ruka-pyon to find Hotaru._

**Baka! Baka!**

"Ouch! Hotaru is still as unforgiving as before…" I complained under my breath as I rubbed the red bump on my head.

"What was that, Sakura Mikan?" Hotaru seemed to have an evil aura rising around her. She held a Baka gun in one hand and another strange invention in another.

"It's…no…nothing." I stammered. Hotaru could seem to be like the Devil, every time she got serious like that…

"Well, since you know that she's your Mother, do you want to do a little digging?" Hotaru asked me. Huh? Digging? She meant digging around my Mother's history? I did not need to know Mother's history… But I remembered that Kai left out something when he was reasoning to me… So I nodded.

We went to the library to try find out more information. Some teachers left their diaries in the school for the students to find out more about the history of the school. I really doubted that someone would have a diary in those days… It seemed somewhat impossible. We hunted all over the library for a book that would give some hint about what happened to my parents. Ruka-pyon found a book that mentioned of Mother and a sensei called Yukihira Sakura. Was this man my Father? I could never know. Ruka-pyon and Hotaru moved on, they did not find any information that related to their search. I flipped through the diary, feeling that there was something urging me to flip through the book, and then I stopped flipping. My eyes widened, in the book, there was an entry that said something like this:

It's been a long time since **that** accident. Imai and Sakurano still insist that Yuki-sensei was killed. They say that it was the principal that killed Yuki-sensei. We're not allowed to mention the topic of him to the students. The principal hardly revealed himself after the accident; I can see why he did not want to come out-he's become a child! I heard from Narumi that Yuka was pregnant, they were officially married; thought not many people knew. Those last few weeks of Yuki-sensei's life, he knew that she was pregnant. They want to name the child Mikan, if it's a girl. They want to make Narumi the child's godfather if they die. Narumi seemed a little hesitant to say something… He thinks that I don't know. I know that they have another child-Kai Sakura.

I gasped. Then I turned the diary over and looked at the name on the cover… It belonged to…Noda-sensei. I was astounded.

"What's wrong, Mikan? Did you find something?" Ruka asked from across the room. I took a deep breathe before I replied him.

"Nothing much, it's just an article that has nothing related to our search." I replied, as coolly as I could. "Could we rest for a bit? I want to go and take a breather. Why don't you two continue searching while I go out? This place is stifling me." I told them and ran out of the room.

"What's wrong with her?" I heard Ruka-pyon say as the door swung close behind me.

~*~*~*~

I cornered Imai-sempai and Sakurano-sempai in an empty classroom.

"What is it, Sakura-san? I hope it's not trying to get us to help you with your plans again." Imai-sempai said impatiently.

"No, it isn't. Imai-sempai, Sakurano-sempai, would you care to give me a history lesson on what happened before? What happened between Mother and Father? What happened between them and the principal? Noda-sensei's diary said you two knew what happened. Tell me! Please!" I begged them. Sakurano-sempai and Imai-sempai exchanged looks with each other. Imai-sempai was clearly shaken. He hadn't expected me to catch up on this subject that quickly. Sakurano-sempai knelt down and told me, "I'm sorry, Sakura-san, we can't tell you any of this yet. It's too soon. We will tell you when the time is right."

I felt frustrated. _Yeah, right! Like I'd believe you! The last time a person made a promise like that died! You think I would wait any longer? Dream on._ I scoffed at them in my head. Then, I had an idea. Noda-sensei mentioned that he moved back in time to see my brother's birth, didn't he? That meant I could duplicate Noda's Alice and go back in time!

"Hey, Sakurano-sempai, Imai-sempai, do you know where Noda-sensei is?" I asked as innocently as I could. Sakurano-sempai frowned a bit.

"If I'm not wrong, he should be having tea with Narumi-sensei now. Otherwise, he would be with the Special Abilities group… If not, it means he's gone back in time. **Again, **he'll try to turn up for the next upcoming festival, if he's gone back in time." Sakurano-sempai replied.

"Thank you!" I hugged him and Imai-sempai and dashed out of the classroom and headed off to find Naru-sensei. They did not know that I had duplicated their Alices when I hugged them. Naru-sensei **was** having tea. But Noda-sensei was not there.

"Ah. I believe he's gone time traveling again. He'll find his way back. Don't worry. There's going to be a BBQ next week, he's going to be there; it's a **must**."

Naru-sensei told me and smiled. I smiled back at him and hugged him. "Thank you!" I said. He smiled and patted my head. Then I started questioning about what other festivals we were going to have. Little did he know, I had duplicated his Alice.

~*~*~*~

The BBQ was fabulous. Noda-sensei did not appear until the middle of the BBQ. I was so glad he had arrived; I ran forward and hugged him, duplicating his Alice at the same time. I decided that I would have my journey in a few weeks time. I had to get accustomed to his Alice so I could travel from place to place.

The next day, I let my hair down. I hoped that I would look like Mother this way. If I was caught, I needed to have an identity. Not to mention I was wearing Gakuen Alice's clothes, I figured that I should wear home clothes. I made sure that I acted all 'bubbly', so that no one would suspect anything.

I was sitting in class, staring at the Sakura petal's outside the window. They were pink in color, like red, like Natsume's eyes. Then it started to get unbearably hot, like something was burning. A thin rope of red flickered before my eyes. I snapped out of my daze. Eh? Fire? But Natsume was not using his Alice! I _think_. Then, it disappeared. The class had fallen into silence. Everyone was staring at either me or Natsume. He seemed as shocked as I was. Everyone started murmuring.

"…what happened?"

"…could it have been Natsume? He's so mean to her…"

"…there's a possibility that it was him…" They started saying.

"No! It's not like that! Everyone, you've got it wrong. I was listening to Natsume's thoughts before that happened. He wasn't thinking of anything to harm Mikan-san!" Koko said out loud to everyone.

"Then who did it? Other than Natsume, no one else can make fire like that!" someone said. Murmurings broke out again. A few were even arguing among themselves.

"HEY! Everyone!" I had to shout to get their attention. "I'm all right. Let's just forget this accident for once, 'kay?"

Everyone looked at each other, then they nodded their heads reluctantly. I sighed in relief.

~*~*~*~

"Mikan, do you know anything to do with that accident? You seem rather shaken." Ruka-pyon said to me. I nodded my head. "It's alright, Ruka. I'm not injured. Besides, I have another idea at what happened…" I said softly.

"I'm sorry, Mikan." Natsume muttered to me as he brushed past me.

Hotaru's POV

Natsume walked past Mikan, whispering a very soft 'I'm sorry' to her. Ha. What an idiot. He was going to blame himself for not watching out for her, he should be stronger, all those nonsense. I get very pissed off with this kind of guys. I knew Mikan was hiding something from me. She seemed rather shaken, after that fire accident. But I knew her well enough to see something else brewing under the surface… There was a secret Mikan had kept from me. What was she hiding? She had confessed all her secrets to me, yet there was one more? I thought through all the secrets she had told me, most of them were childish; only a few of them could be labeled as **real** secrets- like she knew her mother was alive, somewhere in this world; she claimed that she felt something that was telling her that her mother was alive. I never thought I would meet Mikan's mother under such odd circumstances.

I could see that Ruka was going to try and reassure her. He was completely oblivious of the fact that Mikan was acting a little weird, not that I could blame him; he had not been with her for a long time.

I grabbed Natsume and whispered to him, "Keep her company. She cares about your welfare too. You can go and blame yourself for that accident when you go to sleep. If I find that she is more depressed than she is right now, I shall give Permy a potion that will make her stick to you _forever_, and shoot you with the newly upgraded Baka gun."

Then I pushed him to Mikan, grabbed Ruka and walked briskly away with him. "I'll be lending Ruka for a while, Mikan. Natsume will take care of you for the time being." I called over my shoulder. Mikan looked a little astounded, Natsume looked horrified. I smiled inwardly, now he had no way to run.

Mikan's POV

I watched Hotaru walking away with Ruka. What was she trying to do?

"Tch. That witch." I heard someone mutter beside me. I turned around and opened my mouth to say something in Hotaru's defense. Then I stopped myself and walked towards the Sakura trees.

I sat down beneath the Sakura tree that was the furthest from Natsume's usual spot. To my surprise, he sat down beside me. I closed my eyes and started to daydream. I was wondering whether I should let Hotaru, Ruka-pyon and Natsume know that I was going time traveling. Maybe I should let someone know. Tsubasa-sempai was not a good idea. He'd just try to stop me from leaving. But I **should** let Hotaru know. She would **kill** me if I did anything without telling her. She loved me, but did not know how to express it. She certainly did not want to express it like me.

"Hey, polka, what are you thinking." I heard Natsume say. I did not reply him; he was being a little mean, today. Besides, I was too lazy to reply him.

"Hey, polka, you aren't feeling depressed, are you?" he was sounding rather panicked. What was that about? I wondered if it had anything to do with Hotaru. It seemed like she threatened him before she left, because he was frowning slightly and had gone a little pale. But yet, again, I ignored him.

"Hey, polka, answer me. Polka? Polka?" he was shaking my shoulder now. I sighed and opened my eyes.

"What is it, Natsume?" I asked him, my tone slightly irritated. He shifted slightly and stared at me with narrowed eyes. He seemed to be blushing. I blinked my eyes, was I imagining things? Nope. He still had that faint blush around his cheeks. What is he blushing at? Urgh, boys are too confusing.

"What are you hiding from us? I mean, what is the important secret that you are keeping from us?" He demanded. I was surprised; he had caught up rather quickly. Well, my face expression must have shown it. I decided to keep things concealed for a while.

"Nothing. What did Hotaru tell you when she left?" I switched the subject. He frowned. _Natsume sure is a persistent guy. Too stubborn…_I thought. Then, something made his frown disappear.

"Never mind." He said, and then muttered softly, "I'll make Koko read your mind."

Oh, crap! I turned away from him. He must have said that out accidentally. Well, I would be on my guard now. I tried to 'activate' my Nullification Alice. Just in case that did not work, I turned my thoughts to other things. I wondered about the next upcoming festival. It was already March. April fool's day was coming in a few weeks. Hmm…

~*~*~*~

"Hotaru, I want to tell you something." I nervously stood in her lab.

"Are you finally going to tell me about your secret?" Hotaru asked me as she stopped tinkling with a new invention.

"How… How did you know?" I was shocked. Well, it was to be expected. After all, Natsume had seen through my acting, so why shouldn't Hotaru? "Well, I just wanted to go back in time. Do you want to come along?" I asked her, knowing her answer already.

"Yes! Of course I would want to go along with you; after all, this is very important to you, right?" Hotaru said gently. "But may I ask how are we going to go back in time?"

"You'll find out soon. I'll tell you later. Come on, we've got to get to class now, or we'll be late!" I said as I grabbed her hand.


	4. Chapter 4: Time Travel

Chapter 4

"_You'll find out soon. I'll tell you later. Come on, we've got to get to class now, or we'll be late!" I said as I grabbed her hand._

It was free period. Natsume had gone to the hospital for his checkup. I was lying under the Sakura tree and recalling the happy moments I had spent with Kai.

"Mikan-chan!" I heard someone call me. I looked around and saw Nobara-chan walking towards me. I stood up and hugged her. "Nobara-chan! I haven't seen you since the New Year!" I said. She hugged me back, and then released me.

"Mikan-chan, I know you have the Stealing Alice. What other secrets you have, I don't know. But be careful, the principal and Persona will find out about it." Nobara-chan whispered in my ear. Eh? She knew? I froze, and then something else, a cool feeling flowed through my veins. Uh oh, without meaning it, I had accidentally copied Nobara-chan's Alice. Sheesh, it seems like I cannot control this Alice. As I was thinking about this, I nodded in agreement to what Nobara-chan had said. We chatted about other things for a while and then bid each other goodbye.

Natsume's POV

I was lying on the hospital bed when I felt something.

"Persona. What do you want." I hissed at him. He seemed a little amused. "Hmm… I thought you would be weak, considering your situation. Anyway, I have found another person to train. Someone with the Stealing Alice, the one who you protect." He told me. The person that I protect? He…couldn't be saying Mikan, could he? But… all the same…

"No. You will not go near her!" I growled at him. He raised an eyebrow at me. "Unfortunately, that's not for you to decide, Kuro Neko. It's the Elementary School Principal who decides what will happen to her." He told me. "I'll take her missions! Please… don't go near her. Don't involve her in all this!" I nearly shouted at him.

"You're not doing your missions well, because of your Alice that keeps harming your life. We're just getting another person to help you out in the missions. Maybe Ruka would want to help out…" Persona told me. I swore. "None of them will help me out! I can manage on my own!" I muttered at him. He snorted.

"No deal, Kuro Neko. You obviously can't manage well enough now. It doesn't matter. I'll see you later…" He whispered as he disappeared. I tried to go and stop him. But he was gone by the time I had turned around. I cursed.

Mikan's POV

I was walking back to my room when I saw someone leaning against the wall beside my room's door. He was tall and wearing black, and a white mask… I froze. Persona. What was he doing here? I tried to ignore him as I opened my door.

"Mikan Sakura." I heard him say. I tried to ignore him, but his presence was disturbing me. I stopped what I was doing and faced him, crossing my arms over my chest and said bluntly, "What do you want."

"You have the Stealing Alice. On behalf of the Principal, I ask you to join the Dangerous Ability Class." He said. I frowned. How did he know that I had the Stealing Alice. As if he could hear my thoughts, he said, "Nobara can never hide secrets from me. I can always activate her other side and make her tell me what she has on her mind."

So that was how he found out about my other Alice! I tensed. The principal and him wanted to transfer me into D.A class, what should I do? Pretend that I did not know what he was talking about or consider his offer? Natsume and Nobara-chan had told me not to join D.A. But I wanted to help them! Natsume would kill me if I joined D.A. Nobara-chan would be pleased but concerned for my welfare.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I don't have the Stealing Alice." I told him coldly. "Don't lie, we've already seen what you can do." Persona told me, I stared at him. Huh? He had already seen what I could do? "I don't even have that Stealing Alice! I've never even used it!" I said, feeling astounded. I didn't recall using that Alice. Maybe I did use it to get his Alice out of my body, but other than that, I hadn't used it. Plus, I could always lie that it was Imai-sempai who healed me.

He scanned my face carefully and said, "We'll be watching." Then, he disappeared. I went into my room and took a bathe before I went to find Hotaru.

"Hotaru, Persona came. He wanted me to join the D.A class. I refused. But I think he knows, somehow that I have the Stealing Alice." I told her. She froze. After a few moments of silence, she said, "At least he didn't harm you. But how could he have known? It wasn't that obvious, and you didn't even use your Alice." She sounded a little anxious. I shrugged at her.

"So, do we involve the boys in our plan?" I asked her. She looked at me. "Hmm… I think… we should. They may prove themselves to be useful. Anyway, Natsume wants to know what is wrong with you. He cares, you know. Like Ruka." Hotaru told me. I nodded. If Hotaru said we must involve them, we must. They were our friends, after all.

~*~*~*~

As usual, Naru-sensei danced into the class, he was wearing a joker's suit today. "Good morning, my cute and lovely class!" he sang. Everyone around me puked. I smiled at his enthusiasm. "I have some important matters to deal with today, so this block is free for all of you!" he called as he danced out of the classroom. I looked at Hotaru, she nodded. She stood out and used her inventions, the crab and lobster thingy and grabbed Natsume and Ruka, then proceeded to drag them out of the classroom.

"Hey! Let go!" Ruka yelled at her as Natsume tried to burn the crab holding o to his head. But his fire was immediately extinguished. "It's no use. My inventions are fire-proof, now." Hotaru said emotionlessly. I stood up and went after them. As I closed the door behind me, I heard Permy shout, "How **dare** they steal our Natsume and Ruka!" I shuddered as she said 'steal'.

We took the boys to a secluded area-the Sakura trees, and handcuffed them. "What is this about? Sakura-chan?" Ruka said as he asked me. I smiled in apology and explained that I was going to go time traveling. "Do you want to follow me?" I asked them as I smiled sweetly. Ruka blushed faintly and he nodded. Hotaru released him from the metal prisons and trapped his wrists together. Then Hotaru looked at Natsume. He did not say anything. Then…

"Tch. Why should I care?" he made the question sound like a statement. Hotaru was quiet for a while, then she answered, "Because Persona came to find Mikan yesterday. He wanted her to join D.A. So I thought you might want to join us…" She didn't finish her sentence as Natsume said, "Shut up." He looked like he was blushing. I wasn't sure, since he looked at the floor, covering his eyes with his bangs.

"I'll go." He finally said and Hotaru released the handcuffs around his wrists. I sighed in relief, grateful that they were coming along. At least I didn't have to keep anymore secrets from my friends. But Natsume suddenly asked, "Then what were you brooding over? You were thinking of something else before you told the inventor, right?" Holy crap, how did he know that? "Nothing. I was just thinking of how I was going to mention this…subject to Hotaru, and what to do. Not to mention, I was wondering if I should tell Ruka and you what I was planning to do." I lied as convincingly as I could. He nodded. I could see that he did not doubt me. I thought it seemed a little lousy, but no one suspected that I wasn't telling the whole truth.

~*~*~*~

We decided that we would set off the day after tomorrow. Hotaru was busy making preparations for our journey. She had made an invention called the invisible ring. Hotaru said that whoever wore this ring would be invisible, but could see the other people wearing the same ring. She was concerned that they might need the rings in case something happened.

Finally, the day that we were supposed to leave came. Hotaru left a letter behind for Naru-sensei. She sent it by the tortoise(or is it turtle?) mail. She had posted it one week before. We gathered together under the Sakura tree. I looked around at everyone. Then, swallowed and asked, "Are you all ready?" They nodded and I reached out to hold Hotaru's hand. "We'll need to hold onto each other. Ruka, hold Hotaru's and Natsume's hand." I ordered. He quickly grabbed their hands. "Never let go of them. Or else, you'll be lost." I said as I closed my eyes. I concentrated on Noda-sensei's Alice and felt a gentle wind blowing around us.

_Take us to the time where Yuka Azumi was in the Academy. Take us to that time. _I said in my mind. When I opened my eyes, we were standing in a dark void. I felt the urge to wave my hand, and when I did it, a circular window opened in front of us. I saw a little girl being separated from her parents. She was crying. She looked like… Mother. She _was_ my mother. This must be the childhood that she had. I tried to resist the urge to reach out to her. My Mother. _The mother that abandoned you. Does she deserve to be pitied? She abandoned you, the way her parents did!_ A voice screamed in my mind. No. That was not true. Mother abandoned me for my own good. She did it for me, for me to have a happy childhood. Well, I certainly did have a happy childhood with Grandpa, I was able to forget all my worries when I was with him. Although I was not really happy. It was only when Hotaru came, then I did have a happy childhood; all my worries were forgotten.

Then the picture jolted and a lump of something came out through the wall beside the window. It was saying something, somehow, I could understand what it was saying. It said, _"We have fast forward to when Yuka Azumi was 10 years old, to when she met Yukihira Sakura."_ I nodded and said my thanks and the thing went back to the wall. "Hotaru, Ruka, Natsume, we've gone a bit forward in time. To when Mother met Father." I announced out loud. "You were talking to that lump of… of… What is it?" Ruka asked me. I thought about it, then said, "Umm… It's a… I don't know what it is! Well, I call it 'Lumpy'…" I was feeling a little flustered.

We saw the meeting of Mother and Father. Then I jolted with shock when Luna appeared. What was she doing back there? What had Mother stolen from the Principal and Luna? What had Mother done to Luna? I knew Luna, Luna Koizumi, she had appeared in front of me after the New Year accident. She was very mean towards me. She was the source of those rumors. She told the school that I was a bad girl, that I was a troublemaker. She made it seem like I was doing all the bad things, that I was the one who caused all the accidents. We got rid of her after the Sports Festival. But she had whispered to me that I was the same, the spawn of the Devil, like my Mother. Like mother, like daughter, she had said. I didn't listen to her ranting at that time. But I now at least understood a bit, why she hated my Mother so much. I could almost understand her pain. I knew what it was like, to be shunned by your classmates just because of your Alice. Luna had made me experience that pain before. But I had the advantage, I had more friends than her. I was better off, compared to her. Tears appeared in my eyes as I sympathized her, but I held them back, making sure that not one tear spilled over.

But as I continued watching, I felt sadder for Luna and my Mother. They were such good friends, but Luna was too sensitive. That led to the downfall of their friendship. I would try to make Mother and Luna meet, but all this time… would Luna forgive Mother for her actions? I hoped so. I hoped that she would gain her respect, one day.

Narumi's POV

I received the letter from those kids through the… tortoise. At first, when it banged into my leg, I was thinking, _what the hell is this??!!_ When I saw the words: **This is the property of Hotaru Imai.** I refrained from kicking it. What could be so secretive that Hotaru had to send it through mail? Or in other words, send through a tortoise? However, when I opened her letter, I could understand why she wanted to send it like this. In her letter, she spoke of Mikan's plan to go time traveling. She said that they would come back soon. Mikan, Ruka, Natsume and she were going. Ruka would go along, this I knew. But Natsume and Hotaru? I didn't know that Hotaru would go along. As for Natsume, it seemed like he was deeply in love with Mikan. Well, I couldn't do anything else, but wait and hope for their safety.

Why would Mikan want to go time traveling, though? She couldn't have known about her parents… Unless she knew Yuka Azumi was her mother… Sakurano and Imai would have known, they would have suspected. She might have mailed letters to her brother-in-law. She might have told him about Kai and Mikan. **He** would have told those two. I could do nothing now, they would have set off already. I hope Mikan would come back safely. After all, I was her godfather. She couldn't blame me, I had been locked in by the Elementary School Principal. After Yuka stole **that** from them… They haven't stopped trying to find her. _Mikan, please come back safely._ I prayed.

After a few days. Mikan's POV

I concentrated on Noda-sensei's Alice and concentrated on going back to present time. Now I knew everything. But, I wanted to keep what I had learnt a secret from everyone. "Hey, everyone, we'll keep this a secret from everyone, 'kay?" I asked them. "After all, I'm not supposed to know what happened. We'll pretend that this trip didn't happen, ok?" I asked them. They nodded. They were probably still stunned by what had happened. Then, we stopped. I looked around, thinking that we ad returned to Gakuen Alice. To my horror, we were in front of a house, it was on the outskirts of a wood. But it was still relatively close to a town that was nearby. Then, we heard two people playing with each other. Their voices seemed to be coming closer and closer.

"Quick! Put on the invisibility ring that I gave you!" Hotaru said quickly. I slipped it on. Then I reached out for Hotaru's hand. But she let go of my hand. "Wait… this voice sounds familiar…" she said as she tried to make out the figures that were walking towards us. "Please, Hotaru! Please, let's go!" I cried out softly. I knew what was going to happen next. This would cause me. It was a painful memory. I covered my face with my hands, then my legs buckled and I fell to the floor with a soft 'thump'. "Sakura-chan! Are you all right?" I heard Ruka-pyon say. I nodded my head weakly. I could taste the bile that was rising up in my throat. "Can we go, please?" I forced the words out through gritted teeth. Hotaru seemed to hesitate. "Well… I want to see this part…" she said hesitantly.

"Do you have any earplugs?" I griped. She had a pair, but she sounded confused at my attitude. Well, she would understand soon. She handed them to me and I quickly plugged them in. To my relief, I could hear nothing. I looked up and forced myself to stand up. I had to lean against Hotaru, as I was sure I couldn't live through this.

Hotaru's POV

I knew Mikan was forcing herself to stand and watch this part of the past. I couldn't understand why she was acting so strangely. She looked a little pale and was leaning against me for support. Why did she need the earplugs? To block out what? To block out the sounds of the two people playing with each other? Why? She knew something that was going to be shown to us. Why did the voice of one of them sound so familiar? I could almost hear the other two thinking the same thing like me: _Why does that little girl's voice sound so familiar?_

My thanks to those who have reviewed my story and those who have added me to their favorites. I will be posting the chaps on weekends due to the reopening of school.

WinglessDreams

Emmoria

fitha

ShiroSakuraTenshi

amydk101


	5. Chapter 5: A memory

Chapter 5

_I could almost hear the other two thinking the same thing like me: Why does that little girl's voice sound so familiar?_

I looked at Mikan. She looked really terrible. "Hey, you two, I think we should get Mikan seated. She looks terrible." She looked at me. "Hotaru, I'm fine. It's just that…this is another complication." She paused, then continued, "Besides, it's not safe if we seat down, we'll be discovered." I was shocked. How would she know that we would be caught? She must have caught sight of my shocked feelings through my eyes, for she said, "I know this place. How I know it… You'll have to watch and find out yourselves."

Then a voice came closer. "Kai! Let's get back! The Summer Festival will begin in a few moments! Come on!" She said. I froze. She…sounded so much like Mikan. I looked at Mikan. On the surface, she had a composed face. But I knew that grief was tearing through her. I patted her on her back, trying to comfort her. She looked at me and gave me a small, sad smile. Then I turned back towards the scene. As I watched, a girl around four years burst through the trees. She had brown hair with golden streaks and innocent, wide hazel-brown eyes. I swallowed a lump down my throat. She…looked like Mikan. Then a boy around nine years followed after her. He had blond hair and green eyes. He… looked like Mikan's father. I had a million questions to ask Mikan. Who was this guy? Was he her brother? Was that little girl her sister? Was she her older sister? What had happened to them? But when I saw that expression, I refrained from asking her. Her expression was so sad, it was filled with grief. It… was beyond description. I could see the tears gathering in her eyes. Who was he to her? I decided that I could leave the questions to later. As I watched, the little girl twirled around, laughing. Her laughter was like clear bells. Unlike Mikan, she was carefree; Mikan's laughter was never like clear bells and she wasn't **that **carefree. She was an idiot. Then, a woman came out of the house. It was Yuka Azumi. "Mikan, Kai!" she called. Mikan? That was Mikan? I looked at Mikan. She shook her head. Did she mean that the little girl called Mikan was not her and was someone else? Her sister? I looked at the guys. They seemed stunned.

"Yes, Mother!" the little girl sang, laughing as she continued twirling around. Then the guy called Kai stopped her. "Come on, Mikan. Let's go." He said, smiling at her. She smiled back and hugged him. They seemed a lot like lovers. I puzzled over this. It seemed quite normal. I couldn't understand why Mikan looked so grief-stricken. "The worst part comes later on. This is just the beginning of a very sad story." I heard Mikan whisper to me. I was sure the guys could hear it too. They were bounded to puzzle over this too. We continued watching. We saw the happy times the twosome spent together. The girl grew up. She looked more and more like Mikan as she grew up. Mikan looked more and more depressed as we passed through this part of the past. Then, the horror began.

Aunt Yuka would go out often, to visit someone, or do something. We eventually heard Kai mentioning the AAO to little Mikan, so that was where Aunt Yuka went off to. I liked to think of her as Mikan 1 since I assumed she was Mikan's elder sister. I wondered where Mikan was, was she at her Grandpa's house? If so, then why was she so depressed about this. Kai was protective of Mikan 1. I wondered why. I did not know of the secrets Kai kept. I was often tempted to take off the ring and go forward to talk to Kai. But he never left Mikan 1's side and Mikan didn't seem to want us to go near them; expose ourselves to them. She was rather protective of the girl too. I wondered why. Then, **that** day arrived. Kai was killed; we heard him mutter "Alice, give, you" to Mikan 1. Then, Mikan 1 was crying over Kai. Then she slumped over, exhausted by the day's events, it seemed. I stepped forwards, wanting to help Mikan 1. But Mikan stopped me. She had taken off her earplugs.

"Don't, Hotaru. You'll change the past, which will change someone." she told me. Her eyes were on Mikan 1. "You can't be thinking of leaving her in the rain! She'll catch a cold!" I argued. She raised an eyebrow at me. "If only you can care as much for me." I heard her mutter. Then, she said out loud, "You can't help her. That's final. If you touch her, you'll destroy me." So we stood there and waited for someone to help her. Finally, Aunt Yuka came out of the house with the guy, Shiki. He moved Kai's body to the woods. He took a shovel and started digging a grave for Kai. I was touched. But he must be doing this for Aunt Yuka. Aunt Yuka carried Mikan 1 indoors and through the window, we could see that she was packing. Then she carried Mikan 1 out and put her in the car. Shiki, who had finished burying Kai by this time, helped her put the luggage in the bunk and helped her to drive while she cried her eyes out. Then they arrived at a house in a town several miles away. I saw Aunt Yuka knocking on the door. When the door opened, an elderly man looked out. He seemed surprised to see Aunt Yuka. I looked closer, with a gasp, I recognized that the elderly man was Mikan's grandfather.

Mikan's POV

Grandpa looked surprised to see Mother. I imagined that he would be more hurt and sad to learn that his only grandson had died. I felt that this was enough for them. Especially when I heard Hotaru's gasp, I knew that she had _almost_ made the connection. Then, Lumpy appeared out of the wall and asked me if I wanted to move back to the time when we left. I nodded and told it to make it a few seconds after we had left. Then the window disappeared and we appeared under the Sakura tree. Hotaru collapsed on the grass. "I'm sorry, Mikan. For your sister." She mumbled. She seemed like she was in shock. "But you know that they were your brother and sister? What happened to that Mikan? She appeared at your grandpa's house…" she looked at me. I shook my head sadly. How could she not have made the connection? That little girl was _me_.

"It can't be… she died?" Hotaru seemed shocked. I had to admit, Hotaru was being a little ridiculous, and I could not have any other siblings since Father died in the 'war' against the Principal. "It's not that, Hotaru. I never had any sisters." I told her after a moment. Then, I looked at Ruka and Natsume. Both of them looked shocked at what I had just revealed. They also looked stunned. I stood up, a little wobbly from the memories. "I'll go find Naru-sensei, now!" I called to them as I ran off.

~*~*~*~

Naru-sensei had barely finished reading the letter Hotaru had posted to him when I busted into the staffroom. "Naru-sensei!" I cried and I hugged him. "Mikan-chan." Naru-sensei said as he hugged her back. "You know about your parents, right?" he murmured in my ear. I nodded. Then said, "Please keep it a secret. I don't want the Principal to find out." He nodded. Then I separated myself from him and kissed him on the cheek, "Thanks so much, Father!" I said as I smiled at him. He looked really flustered. "So you found out about that…" he muttered as he blushed. I grinned up at him. "Of course, Father! You expect me to miss out on such things?" then I plucked the letter from his hands. "Have you finished reading it?" I asked him. He nodded, and I tore the letter into quarters and threw them into the fire. I watched the letter burst into flames and I felt absorbed by the flames that were licking against the paper. Much to my surprise, it grew stronger and stronger until it was almost blazing, like a bonfire. I snapped my eyes away from the intriguing flames and it stopped growing larger. "This is tough." I muttered to myself. Then I said to Naru-sensei, "I've got to go and change back now! See you during school tomorrow, Father!" He nodded, seeming stunned by what happened just now.

~*~*~*~

I bounced into class like usual. But there was something that I did not want to show to Hotaru, Ruka and Natsume. I didn't tell them that Persona visited again last night. He told me that I would me safer in the D.A class. Like hell, would I join. Who would want to be under Persona and the Principal. But at least I knew I could trust my uncle. I knew he was looking out for me, like my Mother. I knew that they were concerned. I was under the custody of the Elementary Principal, so they could not get to me. I would only need to continue under the Elementary School Principal for a few more years, then I would go into the custody of the High School Principal, under Hii-sama's custody. Then I would be free. Free from this monster of a Principal. He who would destroy everything that was precious to everyone. He and his evil schemes. _We __**will**__ stop him._ Mikan thought.

I turned to Hotaru and threw my arms around her. "Hotaru-chan!" I squealed. Then, I said softly, "Are you alright? I didn't mean to give you all such a shock." "I'm alright." Hotaru said quietly and I released her. Then, I turned and walked towards my seat. Everyone was astounded. This was the first time I had released Hotaru without being shot by her Baka gun. "Are you alright, Mikan?" I saw Iinchou standing beside me. "Yeah! I'm feeling great! Why?" I asked him. "Uh… well, this is the first time Hotaru didn't shoot you with the Baka gun… and so we were wondering if there was something wrong." He was rather nervous. I understood, he did not want to pry. I smiled widely and said, "Nope! Everything's just as great as ever!" He looked rather relieved. I was rather amused by what he was thinking.

The day passed rather quickly. Someone pushed me into Jin-Jin and I accidentally copied Alice. Not to mention, I was punished. Because when I fell on Jin-Jin, he fell and a dustbin was accidentally upended over him… so he was in a black mood. Everyone who hated Jin-Jin congratulated me on the trick. I kept on insisting it was an accident. In the end, I gave up trying to explain and ignored them. Natsume just smirked when he heard of this. Other than that, the day passed uneventfully.

~*~*~*~

I was about to nod off in class. I had slept late last night. Then Jin-Jin shouted, "Sakura Mikan! Wake up!" I opened my eyes drowsily. "What is it, Jin-Jin?" I wasn't fully awake and I wasn't much of a morning person. His eyes bulged and the frog on his shoulder croaked indignantly. He raised his metal stick and pointed it at me. I looked at the blue electric as it zinged towards me. The blue was mesmerizing. It was electric-blue and yellow in some places. It was crooked, giving the color a complimenting shape. I was so absorbed in the lightning when suddenly, a net of lightning appeared and caught Jin-Jin's lightning, before a few dozen other lightning bolts zinged toward Jin-Jin. He seemed horrified. When the lightning bolts were an inch away from electrifying him, I broke my eye contact with the lightning; it disappeared, including Jin-Jin's. Silence filled the class. I was staring at Jin-Jin and he was staring at me. The class was looking at either of us. Only Natsume seemed like he was still sleeping. The bell rang. Jin-Jin scrambled for his things and left the room immediately. Everyone seemed frozen. Then, Natsume lifted his manga from his face and murmured, "What's wrong?" He put his feet down from the desk; his movement snapped everyone back to reality. I stood up and walked out of the classroom. Hotaru stood up and followed me. I went to the Sakura trees. This was something I had not expected.

I sat down. "What happened?" Hotaru asked me. "I…I don't know. When he shot the lightning at me, I was so absorbed in the color and what it was that I…I…" I could not bear to continue. The silence stretched. Then Natsume came over with Ruka behind him. "Oi, polka, what happened." He demanded. "I have a name you know, _jerk_." That was my automatic reply. Ruka-pyon sat down beside me. "What happened, Sakura-chan?" he asked. "I…I don't know either. I was absorbed the color and shape of the lightning bolt, before I realized it, I activated Kai's Alice and lightning formed a net, stopping the oncoming lightning. Then lightning of my own shot towards Jin-Jin. It stopped an inch away from him when I stopped looking at the lightning." I stopped at their expressions. "What did you just say?" Hotaru choked out. "Have you been keeping something from us?" Natsume growled. Ruka was frozen. Uh oh, I forgot to explain about this to them.

"When Kai died, he transferred his Alices to me." I explained. Their expressions relaxed. Except for Natsume, of course. He was scowling at me. He had gotten extremely over-protective this few days. Weird guy. I ignored him as usual. "Why didn't you tell us?" he demanded angrily. "I'm sorry if I'd upset you, _Your Royal Highness_." I retorted. "But I was thinking about other things. Like my brother, for instance and my parents." The fierce expression softened. It wasn't until his expression turned into one of utmost horror then I realized that I was crying. Angrily, I brushed away my tears.

**Baka! Baka! Baka!**

Hotaru shot at Natsume with her Baka gun. He sat on the ground rubbing his head. "Ow…" he muttered. "Serves you right." Hotaru said. Ruka-pyon helped him up. "Does anyone else know about this?" Natsume asked. I tilted my head, "Not that I know of, but Koko might find out through your thoughts. Not to mention… Persona and the Principal." I replied him. Natsume snarled, "Persona would know better than that." "Actually, no. He has been waiting for me to accept his _invitation_ to D.A class." I replied sarcasm dripped from my voice when I said 'invitation'. He had been hogging me everyday before I went to sleep. Standing outside my door. It looked like he was going to have me join the D.A class no matter what, seeing that I had an extremely rare Alice and so. "Hey, Mikan, I noticed that you've been sleeping pretty early…" Hotaru said. Hmm… what Hotaru said was true, lately I'd been sleeping pretty early, every time I entered my room I'd collapse onto my bed and fall asleep before my head touched the pillow. Maybe it has something to do with the Alice, since I seem to have that side effect on the same day I 'accidentally' use the copied Alice. Nowadays, I have to be careful and watch where I put my feet, because you might never know, a layer of ice might appear, due to Nobara-chan's Alice. Sigh. The more Alices I copy the more trouble for me. I'll have to get an Alice restrainer for all those extra Alices…

Thanks for all your comments, and adding me!

konnie()

fitha

Shugocharagirl

Cartoongirl42

cutiebear14

Bloomer123

Eternal-Saku

Thank you all, for supporting my story!


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

_The more Alices I copy the more trouble for me. I'll have to get an Alice restrainer for all those extra Alices…_

The big problem was where to get them. Persona would get them for me…but he would have a condition for me, it was to join the D.A class once he got them for me. I would never ever get the Alice restrainers from him. I had to get one that could be hidden easily… Maybe I could get an ankle bracelet or a necklace; I could wear my socks over it. That way, no one would see it and suspect anything. Well, I could always get them from Uncle… He would help me. But the Principal would find out. I thought through the Alices I had now… Ice, Fire, Lightning, Teleportation, Pain, Heal and a few more that I forgot what they were… if I wanted to discover what they were, I had to meditate for a while.

Then, Hotaru's voice broke through my thoughts, "Mikan? You haven't answered my question, you know." My head snapped up. "Oh, sorry Hotaru… I was thinking about what you just said. It's true… maybe it's because I'm not used to using the Alices yet. It's quite tough. Only Kai might have managed." I muttered under my breath. Then, a wave of fatigue overwhelmed me; I swayed a little. "On second thoughts, I think I'll head back to the Dorms to rest. Tell Naru-sensei that I feel rather tired for me, Hotaru, Ruka-pyon and Natsume." I said as I stood up. I was careful not to look at Natsume. I hadn't forgiven him for what he said yet and I wasn't _planning_ to. Of course, I might forgive him later, but I wanted him to know that I didn't like _someone_ being **that **overprotective of me. Hotaru, who could always 'read my mind' leaned across to Natsume and whispered something. I could hear her say 'follow… tell…Sumire…stick…Baka…30 times' By then, Natsume had turned a nasty shade of white. Chalk white. I stifled a giggle at his horrified and pale expression. Then I turned walking at a fast pace, almost running. I didn't have to be near them to know what Hotaru had said. She had probably threatened him to follow me, or else she'd have Permy stick to him forever and she would shoot him with her Baka gun 30 times; the list goes on.

**BAKA! BOOM! BAKA! BOOM!**

Ah… I hadn't expected her to shoot at him with her Baka cannon. It looks like I misinterpreted what she said. Another reason why I hadn't expected it was because she used the Baka cannon for **extremely** irritating and annoying people like Permy. She used it on Permy when she was acting all high and mighty, claiming that Natsume was hers. Then she'd shoot at Natsume with her Baka gun, giving the excuse that he wasn't controlling his fan girls well. She found them very, very noisy when she was trying to make a new invention. She would use it on me when I over exaggerated. That happened pretty often, but she stopped using it on me ever since I became more mature. That was when I recalled those painful memories. Instead, she started using it on Natsume and Ruka-pyon. I pitied them.

I was quite near to the Dorms when I heard someone moving behind me. Immediately, the Ice Alice activated and froze a layer of Ice on the grass beneath the person's feet. There was a 'Whoa!" and a loud crack. I turned around to see Natsume on the ice. His bewildered expression was so comical that I started laughing at him. He flushed such a bright shade of red that made me laugh slightly harder. "You're… You're blushing, Natsume!" I managed to splutter out. He glared at me. My comment was not appreciated. Huh.

**Click, click, click! Click, click, click! **went Hotaru's camera as she took pictures of Natsume's face and his position on the ice. I could hear the money signs shining in her eyes. "This will make a _great_ sale." I heard her say and I giggled. Ruka was also laughing. But to my surprise, my giggle sounded like what it had been before, like the sound of bells. I saw Hotaru stop taking pictures, she looked at me. "Mikan?" she asked, looking rather puzzled. Then, I saw Natsume glare at me one more time before he turned his attention to the camera in Hotaru's hand. I knew he was going to burn the camera away so that Hotaru did not have anything to blackmail him. "Oh no, you don't." I muttered, thinking of having some fun of my own. I activated my Nullification Alice and wrapped around the camera so that his Fire Alice could not burn it away. I grinned at his horrified expression when he found that he could not burn it. "Hotaru, you'd better watch out for your camera. Natsume's going to burn it…_as soon as he gets the chance_." I warned her. She understood immediately. "Mikan, come to my lab with me. I have to invent more fire-proof stuff." She said. I giggled at Natsume's (2x normal) horrified expression and nodded my head. I heard the bell-sounding laugh again.

Then I followed her to the lab. We spent some time there deciding what to do with the negatives. We decided that we would cut it into four parts and put two in two different corners of her room while I put the remaining two in my room and guard them with the Nullification Alice. We wrote our conversations out on paper so the no one could hear us, we also made sure that there were no creatures in the room, lest Natsume decided to let Ruka help him find out the location of the negatives. Suddenly, Hotaru flashed out a set of photographs; they were pictures of Natsume sitting on the ice, blushing! "Hotaru, how did you accomplish that so fast!" I squealed, reaching out for the photographs. "I don't know what you mean," Hotaru said, shrugging. "They're fire-proof. I'll keep half in my room. You keep the rest in your room. I'll set traps up in my room." I nodded as I received half of the photographs. Then she gave me a small bag, big enough to fit the photographs. "This is to keep the photographs invisible. In case Natsume finds them, I have a voice recorder stored on the bag. When you want it to appear, just say your name. It's fire-proof. I stored a bit of your nullification on it. It cannot be felt or smelt. When you move your hand past the place, no matter what, it cannot be found." She instructed me. I nodded. I was feeling really tired already, I'd used too much of my Alice in one day.

I headed back to my room. Persona was standing outside my room. Holy crap! How did he know that I decided to come back? News sure travels fast. I opened my door, ignoring him as usual. "Nice work blackmailing Natsume. He'll be furious when the news gets out." Persona said. "It's not _when_, its _if_. _If _he doesn't listen to what Hotaru and I want, he'll get blackmailed by both of us." I snickered. "I should warn him about that." Persona just raised an eyebrow. I went into my room, then looked out of the window. I could send a message to Natsume through Ruka. I whistled and waited. A robin flew to me. I activated Ruka-pyon's Alice. _Would you help me do a favor? Help me fly to Ruka and tell him that you heard Hotaru and I discussing about Natsume's photos and that we want to blackmail him with those. We were in Hotaru's lab at that time and her lab is quite hard to get to, so only you heard that. Understand?_ I told the robin. It was charmed by me. Without hesitation, it agreed to my request. I erased the memory of me summoning it and replaced it with a fake memory. Then, I sent it out to find Ruka. I collapsed on my bed and before I lapsed into sleep, I stuck the bag that contained the photos onto my headboard and activated the invisibility spell.

~*~*~*~

Natsume had found out that we were going to blackmail him. He had ransacked my room. Ha, don't think I do not know anything, Natsume. I found that one of my pencils was misplaced. I swore I left it on the tabletop and I reappeared in my pencil case by the bedside. Hotaru said her room wasn't ransacked. _Yet._

Well, he could always try. Hotaru would have a number of traps lying in wait for him.

Hotaru's POV

I thought that that small girl was Mikan. She looked _so_ unlike Mikan. Mikan looks rather childish, with her two ponytails. I told her to pull it into a ponytail. She wouldn't listen to me. The little Mikan in the past, she had tied her hair into a ponytail. I wasn't aware that all this while, she did that just to avoid recalling the memory. She did the right thing, to face it now, the Principal is sure to chase after her. To make her join the D.A class. I thought I saw and felt the heat of a black air of jealousy coming off Natsume when Mikan mentioned that the girl was her… Hmm… This might be a good sale indeed. Blackmailing Natsume is going to be _heaven_. I think I'll create an invention to test him out… A truth invention. Let's see… I'll screw a screw into here; drill a hole into there…

~*~*~*~

Done! Invention number 178: if someone tells a lie, it'll start burning the person's hair or head (for bald people) off-hey, where did there the burning part come from? Hmm, must be from thinking about Natsume too much-but there must be a few other people to ask questions. Ruka, Mikan and me. That'll be all. Of course, if anyone else decides to butt in, they'll regret. This will be for three of us to hear…_only._ I can record it down and blackmail Natsume with it later… Mikan would help me if he tries to burn the recorder away. I'll test it on Natsume during free period tomorrow… I wonder what I should ask…

Next day, free period

I captured Ruka and Natsume by their heads again and dragged them to the Sakura trees. Mikan tagged along. "Natsume, Ruka, I want to test one of you with my new invention. I want to see if it'll work." I told them, enjoying myself as I took in their horrified expressions. "I'll help you test it." Ruka blurted, there was a hint of fear in his eyes. What was he scared about? Surely my inventions couldn't be that bad, could it? "Oh no, Ruka. I spin a bottle and see who gets to be the _'victim'_." I said. Both of them blanched. Mikan looked rather curious. She didn't know it, but she was bouncing on the heels of her feet. I took a green wine bottle out and set it on the ground. Then I spun it. Finally, it came to a stop, the bottle neck was pointing at… **Natsume.** _Excellent._ "Well, Natsume, you'll have to the 'victim'… Or else…" I trailed off, from where I was standing; I could see the goose bumps rising up on Mikan's arm out of the corner of my eye. Was I _that_ creepy? Hmm…

Natsume's POV

Oh crap! Now that witch will ask me all sorts of questions. Like whether I like Mikan or not, things that I would want to avoid. I remembered the last time she tried to trick me into telling her who I liked. Luckily, Ruka broke in and told her that I liked a girl called Sakura, she was the same age as me and we lived in the same village. The last part was a lie, but it _was_ true that I liked someone called Sakura.

The inventor was looking at me with a creepy expression; I could see the dollar signs flashing in her eyes already. One day, she'll have dollar signs for eyes, I swear. "Well, Natsume, are you scared of my invention? Don't worry. It'll just start to burn your hair if you lie." The inventor said. Burn off my hair?! Whatever was she thinking of when she made that _thing_??!! She must have been thinking of me, most likely, this was a trap. She was going to ask me about Mikan. Seriously, I was a rather jealous of Kai. He got to be Mikan's **important** person in her life. I wonder if she'll let me take the position of… Ah! What am I thinking?! Urgh. Polka is affecting the way of how I think. This must be the Baka disease. Sheesh, I should get a remedy for that from the inventor later. She'll know what to do… Or nor. I probably shouldn't mention about this to her, though. She'll have another name for it… _Love._ Ha. Who would **love** that kind of person?

"Natsume, are you ready?" Mikan broke through my thoughts. I looked up; the inventor was holding a silver helmet in her hands. I looked at it cautiously. How could this have fire in it? Anyway, I couldn't escape from this treatment. I took the helmet and put it on. "Ok. I'll go first. Natsume, were you jealous when you saw Kai and Mikan being together?" she asked slyly. Shit! She _would_ ask this type of question. After all, she was very sensitive to what I felt for Mikan; I was in love with her best friend… It would seem quite natural that she cared for her friend. "…Somewhat. But for a different reason." I replied. _Ding! _There was a bell. She looked like she was going to ask something else, but the bell rang, much to my relief. I pulled the helmet off and threw it on the ground and walked away. I was feeling very embarrassed. Ruka kept pace with me. But I knew he was thinking about what I had said. "Ruka, forget what I said back there." I commanded him. He nodded his head, but looked rather dumbfounded.

Mikan's POV

We were going to celebrate Yuu's birthday in a few days. The others had planned a surprise birthday party for him. In fact, it was the day after tomorrow. I wasn't planning on being present in the party, I was feeling rather tired and my chest had a dull pain that was slowly intensifying. I was planning on visiting Imai-sempai on that day, if it was worse. Yuu's birthday finally arrived. In the morning, I led him into the dark classroom and surprised him with the party. Then when no one was noticing, I slipped out of the classroom and headed towards the Sakura trees. I sat down and leaned against the trunk. My chest wasn't hurting as painfully as it did yesterday. But it tinged with pain from time to time. Just when I was about to drift off to sleep, a breath-taking wave of pain overtook me. I gasped. This wasn't supposed to be happening! Then I started coughing. I didn't cough up any blood, but I couldn't breathe. I was coughing so hard that I couldn't take a breath. My head swam, my vision blurred and I felt really light headed. I wanted to call out for help, but I couldn't get the words out. I was sure my face was going blue… Black spots started to cover my vision. Before I passed out, I saw three figures running towards me as I slumped into darkness…

Natsume's POV

I paced anxiously outside the ward. The inventor's brother did not allow us to go into the ward until he had confirmed her condition. I was rather worried, much to my embarrassment. Why should I be concerned for _that_ girl? Much less, a polka dotted panties girl. She was over cheerful and so annoying. Nevertheless, I could feel my heartbeat accelerating. What if she was hurt badly? Hotaru and I found her under the Sakura tree. We noticed that she was gone when we were about to cut the cake. I headed to the Sakura tree she went to normally with the inventor following me. She said she had a bad feeling about something. But before she could finish her sentence, I saw Mikan lying under the Sakura tree, she was coughing. Her face looked slightly blue. I ran over, by the time I had reached her, she had fainted already. We carried her to the hospital where we found the inventor's brother. He attended to her and came out announcing that no one could go into the ward. Then he took the inventor aside and started talking to her, something he rarely did. But I knew he was talking about Mikan. The inventor came back soon, her face was carefully composed, but her eyes betrayed her emotions. Ruka was not there. He was doing something for his ability class. But Narumi would inform him of what happened to Mikan and her classmates would come along later too.

~*~*~*

Ruka barged into the room. "I heard that Sakura-chan was injured. How is she? What's wrong with her?" he asked frantically. "She's fine, I _think_. The inventor's brother told us not to go in." I replied emotionlessly, pointing back at the inventor. She rolled her eyes at the nickname I gave her. Then Ruka sat down and we continued waiting throughout the deafening silence, coupled with the noise coming from the other areas of the hospital.

Hotaru's POV

Onii-sama took me apart from the others. What was so secretive that he had to get me away from the others? I'm concerned about Mikan. This is something I've never seen before. She's had normal sicknesses, but this isn't **normal**. Then, Onii-sama's voice broke through my thoughts. "Hotaru, does Mikan have another Alice? I find something rather odd. Every time we try to define her condition, the machines explode. We get electrified when we touch her. I came up with an excuse that her Alice has gone a little haywire due to overuse. But there _is_ something fishy about this…" he said. I shrugged my shoulders. I wasn't sure of the cause myself either, he suspected me of holding information out on him. I kept quiet and went back to the waiting room.

Mikan's POV

I opened my eyes and saw…_white._ I sat up. The whole room was white. And empty. The only items that were in the room were a small table that held a glass of water and a folding chair. A wave of pain hit me. I gasped, clutching my chest. I lay my head on the pillow and breathed in and out. I closed my eyes. What was **this**? There were several a lot of lines hanging from nowhere in my diaphragm. _They must be the Alices I copied from the others._ I thought. The lines shook and another wave of pain washed through me. I saw that the line that was shining the brightest was the Copy Alice line. I reopened my eyes, gasping for air. Then I surveyed my surroundings. There were several scrapes of metal lying by the bedside. Huh? Why are there pieces of metal on the floor? The room is white… Am I in a hospital ward?

Then the door opened and Imai-sempai walked in. "Ah… So you're awake, Sakura." He said as he sat down on the chair next to my bedside. "So… do you know why you became like that?" He asked me. I shook my head. "I've recorded it as you overused your Alice. You'll have to stay here for a few days until you're fit to go back. We'll be testing some equipment on you, because we get electrified every time we try to touch you and the machines explode every time we use it on you." He explained. _So __**that's**__ why there're several scrapes of metal on the ground._ I thought. "Imai-sempai, do you know where to get an Alice restrainer?" I asked him as I activated Luna's Alice. I felt rather bad by doing this. But I had no choice; he would get very suspicious if I asked him that. We weren't supposed to know, unless you were a D.A class student.

He gave me the instructions and I used the teleportation Alice to get there. I took a ruby colored stone and teleported back to my ward. I collapsed on the bed, feeling strangely exhausted. Then, I brainwashed Imai-sempai, took the pendant I wore and attached the stone to it. I had two necklaces: one had a pendant containing my family photo. It was a present my Mother had given to me before Kai died. It contained a picture of Father and us. Father was there because Mother used technology and pasted his photo in there with us.

I stole the Soul Alice from Imai-sempai and pretended that I was sleeping. He woke up from the Alice and looked around, seeming rather confused before he walked out of the ward. I leapt up from the bed, stored all the copied Alices in the stone. I felt much better after that. I looked around. There wasn't any closet in the room. I was planning to change out of the silly gown they'd put me into. Sadly, there was no closet. I sighed and jumped out through the window, landing on the ground with a soft 'thump'. Then I headed back to the Dorms.

I entered my two-star room through the window. I didn't want to risk being discovered by my classmates. I lied down on the bed and fell into a deep sleep immediately.

~*~*~*~

When I woke up, the Sun was shining through my window. _Wow… It's already morning? I've slept for a long time…_ I thought sleepily, shielding my eyes from the sun rays. I stood up and walked to the toilet a little unsteadily. I put on my uniform and combed my fingers through my hair, and then I pulled it into a ponytail. Then I headed for class. Strangely enough, I was in a bad mood. I didn't know _why_ I was or the reason for my behavior. Classes had already started. I didn't bother to go to class. I went straight to the Sakura trees. Unlike most mornings, I had put my uniform on untidily. I hadn't bothered to tie the ribbon; I'd tucked my white shirt out. I was feeling… _rebellious_. Was this because of the Alice restrainer? I didn't know. I closed my eyes and tried to erase the feelings of rebellion and hate. I succeeded in erasing it completely as I thought of Hotaru, Natsume, Ruka, Naru-sensei and my classmates. Then I stood up and headed for class.

I opened the door to the classroom. Jin-Jin was writing something on the blackboard. He froze when he saw me. "Sakura Mikan. Do you know how late you are?" he boomed. I saw Ruka-pyon looking at me with wide eyes. Hotaru's eyes shot up to meet mine. They narrowed. She was suspicious of me? What had I done? "No, _sensei._" I taunted him. "I do not know how late I am." Jin-Jin's eyes widened and his nostrils flared. "Do you want to be punished, young lady!" he boomed. I shrugged. That was the last straw for Jin-Jin. He snapped. The sky darkened. Lightning started flashing. A bolt of lightning hit the school and the classroom plunged into darkness. There were screams of panic and shouts of confusion. The whole school was in darkness. I could nullify his Alice, of course. But I wanted to have some fun. "Is that the best you can do, Jin-Jin?" I mocked him. I waved my hand, and used Koko's Alice to hear what he was thinking.

_Even all people have weaknesses. Her weakness is that Imai Hotaru… If I threatened to injure her, she will __**lose**__. _He thought. When I heard this, I immediately set up a barrier around Hotaru. She wouldn't feel it. Koko would probably know what was going on. "It wouldn't work, Jin-Jin. Whatever you're thinking." I scorned him. The lightning flashed even more brilliantly. "Is that what you can do? Flash lightning around only? It's so pathetic!" I laughed softly. Just then, the classroom door banged open. "Mikan, are you alright?" I heard Naru-sensei say just as I heard Jin-Jin's thoughts: _I'll aim at Narumi…!_ "Oh no, you wouldn't! I cried as I threw myself in front of Naru-sensei just as a bolt of lightning flashed into the classroom, breaking the window. Before it could reach me, a flash of blue blinded me and the lightning disappeared. I sagged into Naru-sensei. "Father…" I tried to say. He shushed me, "Shh… it's alright now, Mikan." It sounded like he was trying to console me. From what, exactly? From the 'trauma' I would have received just now? No. It was my fault. I had taunted the teacher; therefore, I must receive my punishment. "I provoked Jin-Jin. I'm…sorry." I said. I was feeling a little better, I wasn't so tired now. I would regain my strength slowly. By the time the lights had come back on, I had regained full use of my limbs.

Jin-Jin was sent back to his room to rest, while I was given my punishment: join the D.A class. Damn it. This wasn't _even_ a punishment! However, they threatened to harm Hotaru, so I agreed to the punishment. I requested that this piece of news did not reach Natsume and that my codename be **Shiro Neko****.** Persona agreed to my request and codename. "Meet me in the North Woods at 8 PM. I will want to see to your training." He commanded. My star level was also lifted to Special Star because of the arrangements. They did not want their D.A students to be so weak. I met Persona for my training. He tested me with a fight. He won, and I had a few bruises and cuts on my arms, legs and face by the end of the session. "The next lesson will be tomorrow. If I have any meetings and can't train you, you will be notified." He told me as he disappeared. "You are weak, Shiro Neko." I heard him say as he left. I gritted my teeth, seething in anger. This was rather unfair. It was my first time doing this type of exercise! Natsume would have done better than me, though. I thought as I headed back to my room.

~*~*~*~

"Class, you'll be having a new classmate from today onwards. Her name will be Imai Sakura; her codename will be Shiro Neko." Persona said as he stood in front of the D.A class. He motioned me to go over. I walked into the classroom. My eyes wandered around and I caught sight of Natsume seating alone at the back of the classroom. He looked at me with bored eyes. Good, that meant he did not recognize me. But he started when he heard that my surname was Imai and my name was Sakura. I had told Hotaru about my transfer to D.A class as my punishment. She agreed that it was a idiotic punishment and made a ring that would change my appearance. The ring had altered my appearance so that I had dark blue hair with golden streaks and I had purple eyes. I looked around the class. There was nothing interesting about the class; just guys and girls. "Are there any questions you want to ask her?" Persona continued. A girl nearby raised her hand. She looked familiar, I looked closely at her, and it was Nobara-chan! "Why is she wearing the punishment mask?" Nobara-chan asked. "She committed a small crime a few days ago. So this is her punishment." Persona replied curtly and turned back to the class. "Anything else? If not, I'll like to assign her partner and it will be her _mission_ partner…" Persona said, his eyes wandering around. "Ah, Natsume, you're here. Good. You'll be Imai's mission partner and you'll show her around. Imai, go seat next to him." Persona instructed me. I glared at him before I complied. What was this guy thinking?

I was about to reach Natsume when a guy stuck out his leg, planning to trip me. I was lucky I had trained a lot before I came here or else I was dead meat. I jumped over his out-stretched leg. "Nice try… _weakling_." I paused to smirk at the nickname I'd given the guy. He was the person who had the curse Alice. I remembered him. I heard a gritting of teeth. Through Koko's Alice, I knew he was planning to attack me using his Alice. "That wouldn't work, weakling. You're just too weak." I said in a taunting tone as I headed towards my seat. Everyone was looking at the exchange, including Natsume. Persona was looking slightly amused. _First lesson in D.A and she's already caught up with the mood. Not bad. Picking a fight with that guy._ I pulled a small dagger out of a bag by my hip and threw it over my shoulder at Persona. He dodged and the dagger hit the blackboard slightly an inch away from his face. _Not bad at all, Imai. You'll make a very good 'weapon'…_He thought, now that he knew I had the mind reading Alice on. He still sounded a little amused. Tch. Idiot. I reached my seat and sat down fluidly. The rest of the class had fallen silent as they looked at Persona, wondering what punishment he would give me, I could feel the fear in their thoughts. Even Natsume looked rather stricken. Persona didn't say anything but he left the classroom.

"Tch, why must he send a person that would make more trouble for us into this class? Hey, get out of the class now, _ugly._" A guy said. I knew him. He was the one that called Hotaru 'Cool Blue Sky".

There were murmurs of agreement. Natsume didn't say anything, like usual. I stood up and was planning to head out of the class as Persona had left. That meant that there was nothing for me to do. Then, the class started crowding around me. "Yeah, get out of this class." They started chanting. I was getting rather pissed off. "You'd better get out of my way, **or else.**" I threatened them. They didn't listen. "Ha! She's commanding us now. Who would want to listen to you?" He jeered at me. I looked at him, my gaze was unforgiving. "You'd better get out of the way… Before you get hurt. Stalker, you'd better watch out or I'll have Hotaru-nee kill you." I was getting **very** pissed off, now. I used my telekinetic Alice and told Persona, _if they start to annoy me or what, can I use my Alice on them? I don't think I'll hurt your weapons… But I'll give them a lesson. _He agreed. Stalker widened his eyes and didn't say another word. However, Weakling took up the leader place. "Get out of this class, ugly! You'll regret if you don't!" he shouted at me. I snapped.

I made a flame ball in my hand. "Do you want to see what will happen if you don't move?" I snarled. "It's an illusion!" Weakling shouted. I made vines grow up through the floor and capture his arms and wrists. Then I copied his Alice and stole a part of it. It only took a few moments. Then, I cursed him, forming a Sakura flower on his cheek beneath his eye. I smiled, satisfied at my work and walked out of the classroom, using the fire to build a path in front of me.

~*~*~*~

Natsume was acting weirdly throughout the class. He kept on looking at Hotaru. During lunch, he asked Hotaru if she had a little sister or a twin sister. She replied no, but sounded a little confused. Later during the night, she asked me, "You didn't use my surname, did you?" She asked suspiciously. "I had to. Or else, how am I going to explain why I look so much like you?" I replied. She forgave me and we decided to tell Natsume that she had a little sister that was transferred to Alice Academy. She was put in the D.A class. But her sister wouldn't be meeting her much as she was studying in another class. She was very, very important and powerful, that was why she was isolated. But Hotaru knew about her and she knew about Hotaru. We put the plan into action, and the next time I met Natsume in D.A class, he was not as chilly as he was usually. I guessed that Hotaru threatened him to take care of her little sister who was me.

~*~*~*

I was in my disguise waiting under the Sakura tree for Persona's orders when Natsume appeared. "What are _you_ doing here?" He snarled at me. His hair was rather messy. Natsume was _definitely not_ a morning person. "Waiting for Persona. He came along when I was having lessons to pass me the message." I replied lazily. Then, I felt his presence. He stepped out from behind a tree several meters away. "You're late, Natsume. Here's the mission folder." He said as he threw a black folder to us. I caught it, opened the file and started to read the mission as we walked towards the gate. We waited for a while before a light flashed around. I climbed up a tree and jumped over the wall from there. Natsume did the same. Then I passed the file to him as we walked towards the black limousine parked at the curb.

I got into the car first and suddenly, Natsume asked me, "Have you been on missions before?" I shook my head slowly. "Then how do you know that when there's a signal, the barriers are lowered for a while for us to get out?" he said. He was right. "I've…experienced this type of situations before. I've been in Alice Academy before." I said quietly. I knew he had thought: _why haven't I seen her here before, or in the D.A class?_ I turned away from him and looked out of the window, immersed in the greenery that was flashing by.

We reached the warehouse in an hour. Our mission was to retrieve a disk that contained information on the spies in Alice Academy. The AAO spies. However, we had to wipe out the people that were there. A rather difficult task, since Natsume's fire affected his life. We were doing well, until Natsume accidentally hit a chair and it fell over. The guards rushed in immediately, with Reo at the back. "Oh? What's this? The Kuro Neko and another useless brat eh? Capture Kuro Neko." Reo commanded. "Capture the brat too. If she struggles, you can kill her." Huh. Kill me indeed. I activated one of the plant Alices, made vines grow up and catch Reo's wrists and legs. Then I concentrated on copying his Alice. When I opened my eyes, the guards were fighting with Natsume already. "Hey, Imai, help me out! Don't just stand there and do nothing!" he shouted. I sighed. **So** impatient. I activated my Nullification and wrapped it around him. Then I used Reo's Alice and said, "**STOP!**" Everyone froze. Then I stored the Alices away in my necklace and went to get the disk before I turned to Natsume. "Are you ready to go now?" I asked him. He was like, frozen. Was he affected by Reo's Alice? I read his mind. Nope. He was in shock, trying to figure out what Alice I had. I sighed. Then used the Alice I had copied from Mochu to lift him up and get him back to the limousine.

Persona congratulated me, before asking where Natsume was. I told him that he was in shock and needed some time to recuperate from the shock that he had received. He seemed amused by my answer. I got back to my room and fell asleep on the bed fully dressed.

Luca's POV

_What's wrong with Mikan? She wasn't at school today. Nor yesterday. Natsume is worried too. I wonder what happened…_I thought as I walked along the corridor. "What are you doing?" I heard someone say. I turned around. A girl with purple eyes and dark blue hair with golden streaks was looking at me curiously. No…Nothing." I stammered. She peered at me before she said, "Mikan-nee isn't in the room. She's gone somewhere else. _Mikan-nee? This girl knew Mikan?_ I thought. "Where is she? She hasn't been to class for two days… I was getting rather worried." I said. She raised an eyebrow at me. "In love with Mikan-nee? Well, she's with Hotaru-nee in the lab. You should know where it is, right?" She said. I shook my head, feeling embarrassed. She sighed turned around as she said, "Follow me." She led me through a maze of corridors before she reached a dead end. She knocked on it and pushed gently. A door opened. _Wow… when did Hotaru create this? Is this Hotaru's friend?_ I thought as she looked at me. Then she gestured with her hand and I went in. The whole room was covered with the most luxurious materials you could find. There was a huge place that was covered with silver tiles and lots of other inventions. Hotaru was sitting on a leather sofa eating crab.

"Ah, Ruka. Why are you here?" Hotaru said through a mouthful of crab. "I…umm…" I stuttered, blushing red as I tried to voice my question. **Snap, snap!** "Wonderful blush, Nogi." Hotaru commented as she put her camera down. "He's looking for Mikan-nee, Nee-chan." I heard the girl say. I looked at her. Hotaru noticed my glance and said, "Ah, Nogi, this is my little sister. She was handed to my uncle and aunty when she was born." "Do you have to say that every time you meet someone who asks about me?" the girl said, sounding slightly irritated. "I'm Imai Sakura. Nice to meet you, Nogi-kun." She said to me. _Sakura? That's Mikan's surname._ I thought. "You can come in, Natsume. I know you're there. Don't make me go out there and drag you in." Sakura called out. Natsume came out from the shadows, scowling heavily. "I thought you said you didn't have a sister." He snapped at Hotaru. "I forgot." She drawled. "You shouldn't have! I needed to know whether she…" Natsume realized he had talked too much and snapped his mouth shut. Too late. Sakura turned away from him and faced me. "It seems like Mikan-nee has already headed off to somewhere else. I'm sorry." She said, sounding a little angry. "Natsume, you know Sakura?" I asked him. "Yeah… she's in the D.A class, like me. She's my mission partner." Natsume explained. "You don't need to worry. I'll take care of Natsume." Sakura piped up, smiling slightly. **Whoa**… she was very pretty when she smiled. I blushed as Natsume said, "I do not need to be taken care off!"

Sakura smirked at him. "Of course you can. But I remembered our first mission together…" she trailed off; her eyes were sparkling with amusement. I looked at Natsume. To my surprise, he was blushing furiously. "That… has nothing to do with this." He said, gritting his teeth. "Of course not. But I remembered you were begging me to help you out with something." Sakura snickered. Then I broke in, "Umm… if you don't mind, Natsume and I shall leave." Natsume shot me a grateful look. "Sure, but come along next time, Natsume. I'm sure we'll have some fun." Sakura said as Hotaru laughed. "You'll give me a great budget, Sakura. Look at these! Now I'll have extras for these two guys…" She said, her eyes sparkling darkly. Sakura went over and peered at the photographs.

"Oh, good! You've gotten a couple hundred of Natsume blushing! Fabulous, Nee-chan!" Sakura squealed. I looked at Natsume with a horrified expression. That meant Hotaru had taken a couple _thousand_ of me… Natsume was looking shocked. "Give us those photos, **or else.**" Natsume threatened. Sakura raised an eyebrow at him. "Don't think so." She said as she stuck her tongue out. He started striding towards the two sisters. I was rather worried. He looked as if his nerves were stretched tightly. "**Stop. Calm down, Natsume. You will forget that you were angry at us for taking photos of you. CALM DOWN!"** she said. I felt calm washing over my whole body and the issue of the photos slipped from my mind. Then Sakura pushed us out. **"You will forget that Hotaru's lab is here. You will go to find Narumi-sensei now. You have heard from Hotaru that she is there. You will walk slowly. You will forget that I was in the lab. Ruka saw me in the lab, Ruka met Natsume on the way to the staffroom, that's why Natsume is with you. You will forget that we took pictures of both of you." **She said. I was feeling rather dizzy and nodded. Then I turned and walked away with Natsume. He was looking rather dazed. But I lost all these thoughts as I walked towards the staffroom.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

_Then I turned and walked away with Natsume. He was looking rather dazed. But I lost all these thoughts as I walked towards the staffroom. _

Mikan's POV

I rushed into the staffroom and found Naru-sensei, or Father. "Father," I called out. His head snapped up and hid a small pile of papers. He looked at me with guilty eyes. "I'm sorry, Mikan. I… looked into your records, and found out that you've been in the Academy before…" he said. I froze. Ah, he must be referring to the one time I had been in Alice Academy. The first time was when I was a child. I was in the Academy until I was 4 years old. It was four years, but enough time for me to get used to the evil ways of the D.A class, enough for me to be as rude and violent as Natsume. I was in the D.A class because of my Nullification Alice. They trained me until I could use my Alice for a lot of things, like blocking the enemy's Alice; I did missions too, along with the older students. But when I reached four, Mother came and took me away from the Academy. We went to a secluded area where the Academy couldn't find us. Then after I was sent to Grandpa, I headed to the Academy where I was almost captured by the guards. Then I got back to grandpa's place, seeing that it was impossible to get back in. I tried it every year, during Kai's anniversary. But I failed each time, that was, until Hotaru came along. I stopped trying to get into the Academy.

It has been a long time since then… and now the truth was uncovered. "Umm… that's not exactly…" I stammered under Father's watchful glance. Then, I sighed and admitted, "I've been in the Dangerous Ability class before." He looked shocked. Then, Ruka and Natsume reached the staffroom. "Please do not mention this to Ruka, Natsume or Hotaru." I said in an undertone. He nodded. "Sakura-chan!" Ruka called out to me. I turned and smiled at him. "Hello, Ruka-pyon! What are you doing here?" I asked cheerfully. "Um… Noda-sensei wants to see you." He reported. _So that's what he was finding me for._ I thought. "Alright! I'll go see him now!" I sang as I skipped out of the staffroom.

~*~*~*~

I sighed. Noda-sensei was worried about why I hadn't been to school for the ability classes, as had been Tsubasa-sempai. I don't seem to be talking with everybody that much. I was so busy with all those missions. I couldn't catch up with their conversations. I wondered if I should tell them the truth that I had been transferred to the D.A class. But I didn't want to worry. Telling them the truth will only make them worry more. I sighed one more time, keeping secrets from everyone was not a good thing; it was a burden.

~*~*~*~

Reo had come to get Natsume again. I knew it when I entered the circus that had came to the Central Town lately. He was planning to use Ruka and draw Natsume out so he could capture him. Well, he wouldn't have a good time. Ruka was under _my _control too. If he was going to play with Ruka, Natsume and everyone, well, two could play at such a game. Narumi was starting the lesson as usual when the alarm started ringing. _Shiro Neko, get out of the building with Kuro Neko now!_ I heard Persona think.

I waited until the whole class was in chaos, then I turned on the disguise and grabbed Natsume's hand. "Come on! Persona's calling!" I told him as I pulled him through the crowd. We got out of the building using my Teleportation Alice. There were animals stampeding outside the school. Whoa, this was going to be tough. "Over there! It's the Kuro Neko!" I heard someone shout. I turned around and saw a hot-air balloon floating nearby. Natsume already had his flame ready in his hand. I nullified it. I planned to take Reo on by myself. Then I used an Alice that allowed you to change your face and swapped Natsume's appearance with mine (Mikan's) "Capture him!" someone with the Animal pheromone shouted. Immediately, the animals charged at me.

I kept my position and let the animals capture me. Natsume didn't know what was happening. However, he tried to get me free from the animals saying, "No! Don't get her involved in this! I'm who you want!" It amused me to see him like that. But he couldn't do anything about it. I was captured to the hot-air balloon. "Huh. Not bad. You can't do anything now, Hyuuga." Reo said as he walked towards me with a cloth in his hand. It must be chloroform soaked. "What do you want." I hissed at him, trying to act like Natsume.

"Come now, Hyuuga, you can't be that innocent. You are part of the reason why I'm here. The Shiro Neko is next." He said. I hissed. He needs Natsume and me, huh? "She's a tough one. And she's hard to find." I said, smiling. Reo raised his eyebrow. _In love? Hyuuga's in love with the Shiro Neko? Or does he trust her a lot?_ I could hear him thinking. "Not true, Reo. **I'm** the Shiro Neko." I smirked at him, enjoying his stunned response. "Impossible. You're the Kuro Neko, how can you be the Shiro Neko at the same time?" He said. His incredulous expression made me laugh. "I might not be the Kuro Neko… Have the reports ever said that the Shiro Neko has only one Alice?" I teased him a little. His eyes widened a little as my words registered in his mind.

"Exquisite. The Shiro Neko… Boss will be pleased." I heard him say to his coworkers. "You think I'm that easy to catch?" I asked, feeling a little insulted. I stood up and used my Fire Alice on them. Then I teleported to the ground below. Persona was standing among several dead animals. The others were crowding away from him. Beside him stood a very surprised Natsume who was staring at his Mikan expression reflected back in the mirror Persona must have handed him. "Sorry, 'Kuro Neko'!" I chirped cheerfully as I giggled at his expression. "I'll change it back as soon as everything's alright!"

I stole the Voice Pheromone from Reo as I pushed him towards Persona. "Don't treat him so cruelly, though. I want to play with him sometime. Especially when he would know something about Mother." I told Persona. He shrugged nonchalantly as he received Reo and he disappeared with the stunned Reo. "Do you want to clean up this mess?" I asked Natsume as he glared at me. He turned and stalked away. So stubborn. I used the Animal pheromone on the angry animals before I headed back in too.

~*~*~*~

I. Natsume still did missions with me. But I hid my feelings away. Ruka and Iinchou were rather concerned about me, I hadn't been acting as cheerful as I should be. Why did it become like that? Why did it end like that? In the end, I couldn't tell them the truth. The Principal had planned something for me. I couldn't do anything about his choice. "Everyone, we have a temporary assistant teacher! Her name is Azumi Sakura!" Narumi announced as he danced into the classroom wearing a frilly dress. A woman entered the room. She had shoulder length brown hair, hazel brown eyes. It was Mother. I stood up, the chair clattered onto the floor. Mother looked at me with a curious expression. It changed when she saw that it was me.

"You." I said. A chill of electricity ran up and down my spine. What was she doing here? Why was she here? To pick me up? I didn't know what they were thinking. How did they arrange this with the AAO? What deal did they make? "Mikan-chan, please seat down." Narumi looked at me with a stern face, Huh? What was Narumi-sensei doing? Couldn't he see that this woman was my Mother? She was his crush, 'always will be his crush'? Then I realized that she might be wearing a disguise. "Sorry, sensei." I said as I sat down. So the day was coming soon, huh? I couldn't do anything, the Principal threatened to harm my friends if I didn't listen and oblige to his orders. Narumi was frowning slightly.

"What's wrong, Mikan?" Hotaru said as she sat next to me. I shrugged. "Nothing much. It's just that that woman… Sakura-sensei looked rather familiar. I can't put a finger to it." I lied smoothly. She didn't raise the subject again. I requested a meeting with Azumi Sakura and asked her, "When is it?" She replied, "The day after Christmas." She didn't comment on my behavior. After all, it was all her fault, so I had a reason to be cold towards her; she knew she was wrong anyways.

The days passed quickly. Soon, it was the day before I had to go. The day we had the dance. Last time I had danced with Hotaru. She was going to miss me soon. I should dance with all of my friends. Tsubasa-sempai was going to take this badly. Ruka too. "Tsubasa-sempai, I have something to tell you." I said as we were dancing. "What is it, Mikan? Your face has gone all serious. You haven't been acting yourself lately, you know? Like an adult." he said lightly. "I'm going to be transferred to an Academy situated somewhere else." I said. He looked stunned and had frozen in his tracks. "Sempai? Sempai?" I shook him gently. No reaction. I looked around for Narumi or someone who could help me. I spotted Natsume lounging against a pillar nearby. "Natsume, come help me." I called out to him. Tsubasa-sempai had his hands around me as we were dancing. It was becoming constricting boas, clutching me tighter and tighter to him. Natsume came obediently enough, but he wouldn't help me. "Sheesh, come and help me out of this vice grip, Natsume!" I wailed. I managed to get out without his help and held my hand out to him. "May I?" I said sarcastically. He took my hand and we started dancing. At least we weren't as clumsy as we were last year. No incidents, zilch.

"You're going to another Academy?" Natsume's voice broke through my thoughts. "Yeah. Will you miss me?" I asked mischievously. "Mikan…" he said and hesitated. I was rather shocked. This was the first time he had bothered to use my name properly. "You've remembered my name?" I asked, shocked. He ignored my comment and continued, "You don't have to go. Ruka will miss you and Hotaru will kill us both. If you don't stay, ugly, you're dead meat." He said. I smiled and the song ended. I squirmed out of his grasp and made my way through the crowd. I spotted Ruka and went up to him. "Ruka-pyon?" I asked softly. He was going to be most disappointed of all of them. I continued after Ruka, spreading the news to all the people that were in my social circle. Then I requested to be allowed permission on stage after the Principals had left. I activated my Voice pheromone and announced that everyone would 'forget' me. Well, not really forget. But at least the memories of me would be locked up in a dark corner of their hearts. When the time approached, they would slowly remember…what happened. When I came back, everything was going to be different. I would treasure these happy moments with my friends forever, but Hotaru was never going to forgive me for doing this to her. I would restore her memories of me when I returned, well, maybe.

2 years later 

Normal POV

"Good morning, everyone!" Narumi said as he danced into the room. _Ew…_ everyone thought. Narumi was wearing a frilly black dress with a black frilly umbrella to top it off. He started announcing the next festival that was going to come soon. Meanwhile, a person with long hair, wearing a guy's uniform and a white mask was leaning against the wall as he headed towards the classroom. He had bruises and cuts on his arms and legs from yesterday's punishment. He heard Narumi greeting the class and settling down to homeroom. The fact that made him irritated was that he sounded so cheerful when he needed to wear the mask and endure the one hour of headache.

This person's POV

_Sakura-kun will arrive in class tomorrow because of the heavy punishment Persona will give him…_Narumi was thinking. What the hell. I didn't like to be addressed so familiarly by people that I didn't know. Still, he didn't know. When I went to school the first time since I'd entered AAO, the students bullied me. I didn't even try to make friends with them because they were idiots. I grew to like the silence and the AAO taught me lots of things. Occasionally I'd meet some of the Alice Academy on a mission. Other than that, I communicated with my mother whom I had not met for years.

**BANG!** I slammed the door open. The whole class fell silent immediately. Then whisperings began, they were talking about my punishment mask. Narumi recognized me and started to say, "Sakura-ku-" _Be quiet, Narumi. I'm having a headache because of this mask. So I decided to come to class. I'll choose my own partner..._ I told him mentally. He gulped as I glared him and nodded. "Class, this is our new classmate, Sakura Azumi." He announced. There was an empty space next to Hotaru. I started to head there when Permy asked, "Sensei, what's his star level? What's his Alice? Who's going to be his partner? I don't mind if it's me…" she said.

"Shut up, Permy. I don't need you as my partner. I know my way, Natsume can be my partner. He wouldn't bother me that much as you." I muttered as I made my way towards Hotaru. Permy had stars in her eyes after I said that and was saying, "Who wants to join the Mikan, Natsume and Ruka fan club?" A lot of supporters were joining the club. _Sigh_. It was going to be tough. "Sakura-kun is special star and he's a special abilities and DA member." Narumi said as he left the classroom.

~*~*~*~

They were going to celebrate the abilities festival soon. I remembered that the special abilities class did the PRG two years ago. How was Tsubasa-sempai? How was Misaki-sempai? What about Tono-sempai? Was he still here? I had left the classroom the same time Natsume did, but I chose a different route and walked towards the Northern woods. I planned to visit Bear. The mask still hadn't come out. Tch, how annoying. Persona must have set it for two hours.

When I reached the clearing, Bear looked up and saw me. He ran towards me while shaking his arm in full rounds. "Bear, have you forgotten me? It's me, Sakura. I'm back." I said softly. Bear was the only person that knew I was transferring to the AAO besides Hotaru. Of course, I didn't tell him much, but he knew that I was going to leave. He stopped and ran towards me, throwing himself into my arms. Bear loved me as much as Kaname. I carried him back to the school after I asked him if he wouldn't mind attending lessons with me. He agreed.

When I went back to class, the whole class was stunned by what I was holding in my arms. Everyone went on defensive mode immediately. I carried Bear to my desk where I sat beside Hotaru. I held Bear to my chest, allowing my love for him to flow through our mental connection. Then, the door opened and a raven haired guy stepped in. "Hey, it's time for your ability classes already." There were a few other teachers standing behind him. I stood up and made my way out of the class. The others seemed frozen to their seats.

When the teachers saw that I was holding Bear, they slipped into defensive positions. Tsubasa just looked very stunned. I stopped a few feet away from them. "Dare to injure Bear and you **die**." I said in a menacing voice. Several of the teachers gulped, the others were thinking, _he's so scary… So defensive of that Bear._ I smirked as I passed through them. D.A class held no interest for me, so I headed towards the Special abilities classroom. I was going to open the door when I felt Misaki heading towards the door with a bucket. She thought I was Tsubasa-sempai. I dodged as I opened the door and a bucket whistled out through the door above me. I dodged her next movement which was aimed at my knee. When she stopped attacking me, I was leaning against the classroom door already. Sheesh, I hated the mask now. It was giving me the most terrible headache so I couldn't dodge properly.

"Sorry, sorry!! I thought you were Tsubasa!" Misaki was still apologizing. "Shut up!" I snapped at her finally. They were getting on my nerves. I decided to go and sleep; it was useless being here anyway. I headed back to the Dorms with Bear playing with my hair.

~*~*~*~

Everyone stared at me as I stepped into the classroom with Bear in my arms. Oh yeah, they hadn't seen me without my mask before. Even Natsume and Ruka were staring. Only Sumire dared to approach me, by flinging her arms around me. "Sakura-kun!! You're so handsome! Will you be my boyfriend?" she squealed. Tch. I ignored her request and kept quiet about her flirting with me, she floundered around me the whole day trying to get me to talk. After a few moments of this, the other girls came about, wanting to make a good impression on me. I talked to Nonoko and Iinchou, I noticed Ruka looking at me with a puzzled expression. Why was he doing that? Had he found me familiar? Ruka's memories had been hard to collect, he liked me too much. Maybe I should let them have their memories back. I wanted them to have fun. The last time I had been here was filled with laughter, everyone had been happy. Yet, they had become cold, indifferent persons now. I allowed the memories to return to them. Only part of it, the feelings of happiness and how the person looked, what happened, but I didn't let them really remember who it was.

They all looked puzzled. _What is this? _They were thinking as the memories of the past flashed through their minds. "What's your Alice? Who are you?" a soft voice asked. I turned my head. Hotaru was looking at me with an earnest expression. "Nullification Alice. I am Sakura Azumi." I answered very softly. A wave of sadness washed through me, I wanted to let her remember the past so we could be together again. "I'm sorry, Hotaru." I said sadly as I stood up and started to head out. Then the door opened and a boy peeked in. "Youichi!" Ruka said as he stood up. "What are you doing here?" He looked at me and said, "Lots of negative energy." Was he referring to me? I know that I give off quite a bit of negative energy because of the Summoning of Evil Souls Alice. Hmm… then he saw me and said emotionlessly, "Who's that." "That's the new transfer student, Sakura Azumi." Ruka explained. "Youichi." I greeted him before I went out of the room.

"It's you. You're giving out a lot of negative energy." He said as I was almost out of the room. I turned and smiled sweetly, "Umm, Youichi? I don't have any negative energy or is it something else that you're feeling?" I asked as I released his memories back to him. His eyes widened as he took in the lost memories. I walked away before he could say anything. As I neared the staffroom, I heard the buzzing of the teacher's thoughts. What? Mouri Tacoma was coming to perform on the abilities festival? What's more, he was coming to be a teacher! There must be something the AAO were planning. Mother had quit from that organization, she was in the academy, with uncle. It was a secret they kept from the Elementary school Principal. Although we were out from his grasp, he could take us back anytime.

But Mouri Tacoma was coming. The AAO must be planning something. I released the memories of that when Natsume was kidnapped from the academy back to Narumi, like before, I didn't release my identity. I could lie to Youichi, he would be easy to deceive through Reo's Alice. I was planning to question Reo when he came.

~*~

I had a high fever the day Tacoma came. Damn. This way, he'll be able to get to me, the AAO wanted him to kidnap me, and I knew it through his thoughts. I got Natsume to watch me through blackmailing. I had taken away most of the **lovely **pictures Hotaru had taken of him. I also blackmailed Ruka, so I had two guards. "You two, when Tacoma appears, wake me up. I'm going to sleep." I said as I turned my back to them. "Tch." I heard Natsume say. I drifted into a light sleep. Someone's breathe against my cheek made me wake up. Immediately, I woke up but didn't open my eyes. Tacoma. I knew it. What were the two idiots doing?

"Put those two guys into the trunk. Along with Sakura." I heard him instruct the guards that were surely there. One of them had a barrier Alice, the other was useless. I stole the barrier Alice, when we were in the trunk, I teleported the two of them out. I was tired after using Alices when I was sick, as a result, I couldn't go that far. I managed to get to the edge of the Northern Woods, not far from where the car was. "Damn." I cursed. Surely I could better than that! "Hey! How did you get out of there?" One of the guys saw me. Damn it! I used the Voice and the Pheromone Alice and persuaded him to go and get Narumi.

I was feeling really tired by the time I was done and slumped against one of the trees. Ahh… I was so tired and I could feel my temperature rising. Blackness overtook me… and my eyelids closed.

&&&&&

Natsume's POV

Urgh, we fainted while trying to protect that guy. It was dark in here, where was Ruka? There was a musty smell… I guessed that I was in a car trunk as there was a smooth and soft purr of the car. Then I heard someone breathing heavily in front of me. I squinted, trying to make out the person. Then I saw that it was Sakura. He looked so peaceful, his cheeks were more flushed than usual and his breathing was uneven. I put my forehead against his, ouch! It was hot! He was burning up. We had to get him out of here. "Natsume? Natsume, where are you?" I heard someone say from behind. "Ruka?" I tried to turn around and see him.

Ah, there he was! Relief swept through my body. "How's Sakura-kun?" he asked me. "He's burning up." I informed him. "What? We'd better think of something, and fast." Ruka said. Even though I couldn't see his face, I knew that he was concerned. I felt a little jealous, why was Ruka so protective of that guy?

Sakura's POV

Urgh… what happened? I opened my eyes. Natsume was lying in front of me. He seemed to be seething about something and he looked… jealous? "Oi, where are we. You two are so weak." I said. Natsume looked at me and said, "Oh, you're awake." in a flat voice. I shrugged and turned my attention to our surroundings. We were in a car; we must be outside the Academy. There was no barrier, so why wasn't Natsume using his Fire Alice? Rather brainless, this guy. His brains must have turned to mush while I was away. I activated the fire Alice and burned the ropes that were binding us. As a result, I was feeling exhausted when I finished the task. Then, I grabbed both of them and teleported both of us back to the Academy. As I could not teleport to the inside of the Academy, I teleported both of us to the front of it. I collapsed onto Natsume after that. Damn. I was burning up again.

The security guard hurried out. "What are you kids doing-" he started to say, but stopped when he saw that we were wearing the Academy's uniforms. Suddenly, Persona appeared, "You two will get the punishment." He said coldly. "I'll make a deal, Persona. But we'll talk about the deal alone." I replied in the same tone, I didn't want Natsume to get dragged into this. Anyway, if I kept quiet about Tacoma, I would be able to investigate the AAO's actions. Persona looked slightly interested; I never made deals with him. He considered my offer for a while and nodded his head. I stood a little unsteadily on my own as I pushed the two guys away. "Go. I'm going to make a deal. It's **private**." I said when I saw Natsume's objecting expression. When he didn't move, Persona said, "Kuro Neko…" very threateningly. Finally, he headed off.

I waited until his presence had faded far away and I began the negotiations.

&&&

It was an hour later when I finally stumbled out of the Northern Woods. It was dark, and I was exhausted from the usage of that much Alices, especially when my body was that weak. I couldn't hold up anymore. I collapsed at the fringe of the forest. Why am I so useless, how can I protect everyone when I'm this useless? I clenched my fists. I tried to stand up again, but my legs couldn't support me, I felt like sleeping already. "Need some help?" I heard someone say. "Hyuuga. Go away." I snapped at him. "Heh, looks like you can't hold up anymore. Are the new wounds affecting you?" he said, referring to the wounds I had received from Persona, my punishment. I had to wear the mask tomorrow when I went to class. I couldn't skip it although my fever had risen. It looked like I had to endure the fever and the mask, plus multiple wounds that I couldn't heal now or it would affect my health. Then Natsume jumped and landed beside me. "Come on, I'll help you get back to the hospital." He said as he put his arms around my shoulders and took me to the hospital.

Natsume's POV

I was leaning back in my seat, Permy (Sumire, I feel that the name suits her) was fluttering around us, worried about Ruka and my welfare. She was fretting about Sakura aloud. I felt that he would be all right; after all, I did accompany him to the hospital. That Imai would fix him up. Then, the door banged open again, there in the doorway was a silhouette of a guy. He was leaning against the door frame, like the first day. But you could hear that he was breathing heavily. To my surprise, Hotaru hurried to the front and supported the guy. They started talking with their heads together, everyone was looking at them. I could hear the thought, _are they dating? _running through their heads. I was thinking about that myself too and felt a little jealous. Why would a guy like that mix with the inventor more? Not that I cared anyways, but I felt that he was being a little silly. Then Permy flitted up to him. "Sakura-kun! Are you all right? What happened?" she asked. Silly! You're provoking a wild animal!

Sakura's POV

Hotaru came up to help me when I stumbled into the classroom. "Are you all right, Sakura-chan?" she murmured in my ear. "Yeah. I'm fine. Thanks." I whispered back to her, everyone was thinking, _Hotaru and Sakura are dating?!_ Especially Natsume. He was being rather jealous, Ruka was puzzled at the feelings of jealousy he was feeling. _Don't worry, Ruka. You'll find your next half in someone else._ I said inwardly. Hotaru helped me to my seat while Permy danced around me, "Sakura-kun, are you all right? Oh… Look at those wounds!" She squealed.

I was rather irritated, but touched by her kindness. "I'm fine." I said curtly as Natsume's mind shouted warnings to Permy. I smirked; I had no idea that Natsume was so concerned about everyone in the class. But Hotaru called me 'chan'… I guess it was acceptable. After all, I gave her the memories back yesterday when her brother patched my fever up and some of the wounds. This morning, Persona gave me my punishment, the punishment I had last night was Natsume's. The deal I made with Persona… I had to take their punishments, in return, he would not hurt them and I would not need to go to the DA class for two lessons. Although it was only two lessons; that was the most I could get from him. What a loser, that guy.

I met Hotaru when I was heading back to my room. She helped me; at the same time I let her have her memories back. That's why she called me 'chan', but she was not confident enough to address me as Mikan and it would be a big trouble if she addressed me as that. I knew that Ruka was thinking about me, I mean, he found me becoming more and more like Natsume. The Culture festival was already one week away, the special abilities section was like before I'd even met them; lazing around all day. There wasn't even the need to go and attend the class, I could just stay in the classroom or go find Bear. Sometimes I would head to the Sakura trees, Natsume would be there and I would seat somewhere far away. I hadn't talked to him since the day I received the punishment. But the class could feel that there was something different. Also, I had a bad premonition that something bad was going to come up…

That's all for this chapter! I think it might seem a little bad… Anyways, I was thinking of writing a story on Shugo Chara. Please tell me what you think!


	8. Announcement, pls take note!

Author's Note

I've published another chapter on Shugo Chara. Those who are interested please go and read it… It's called A different story. Please review for that chapter, since I'm not so confident in writing it…Do this as a favor for me. After all, I worked out 13 pages for chap 6…^^ Thank you!

-WordlessDreams


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 8

_Also, I had a bad premonition that something bad was going to come up…_

As expected, the special abilities class didn't present anything. I went around looking around the booths of other ability classes with Tsubasa tailing behind me. He tried to make small talk, but I gave him the silence treatment every time he attempted to. I pitied him, but I kept my mouth shut, not wanting to end up being friends and hurt him or anyone if anything happened. You could say I was pretty much like Natsume; both of us don't want to hurt the people surrounding us. But we expressed it differently. "Sakura-kun, there's a stall set up by Hotaru up there. Do you want to go and see what she's doing?" Tsubasa said. "No. She's busy. I don't want to disturb her money making plans…" I said. Not to mention, she'd take pictures of me and give them out to everyone. Hotaru found out very quickly that I would not hurt her because she was my best friend since a long time ago.

I found a very interesting item while we went around the festival area, it was a biscuit that could make the person who swallowed it talk bird language and have a beak for two minutes. I tried it out on Tsubasa; the effect was amusing; he talked bird language, grew a beak and sprouted a few yellow feathers! Everyone nearby was laughing at his appearance. After that, I went to visit Ruka's ability class. They were putting up a play, from what I heard it was Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Ruka was going to act as Snow White; Hotaru gave me the assignment that I should take pictures of Ruka in that dress. I was eager to comply.

Unfortunately, when I arrived at the back stage, the whole cast were in chaos. Apparently, **someone** had dropped a box of balls that could stick you to something for two hours. Quite a number of the actors were stuck to items that destroyed their appearance, those who were responsible for the accident had to fill in for the places and the play was going to start in an hour. So they couldn't wait for the effects to wear off. They were all ready. But they were one actor short; as a result I was dragged in. Natsume was going to act as a good friend, the forest cat, of one of the dwarves. Ruka was going to act as the Prince, the only place that was empty was the Snow White position, before I changed clothes with Ruka, and I snapped a couple of pictures of him in a dress and hid them with Tsubasa, threatening to kill him if he did not protect them. Then, I went to try out the costume.

"Wow! Sakura-kun, you're so beautiful!" Narumi gushed. I glared at him and he backed off. "Please show a more cheerful side when you're acting!" he said, as the others crowded up, complimenting me on my looks. Permy was among them, she hooked her arm through mine and said, "Now, we're a pair! I announce to everyone that Sakura-kun and I are dating!" I was very irritated at her statement and yanked my arm out of hers before I walked away. Tsubasa also complimented me on how I looked in a dress; I could feel that Persona was nearby even though he didn't want to show himself. Darn that guy, he'd tease me again on the next mission. Natsume was looking at me with an expression that said he wanted to laugh. Urgh, I'd get back at that guy somehow. It wasn't that I was opposed to anything like this since I was really a girl… But it was affecting my appearance as a guy. Also, I could feel that Tacoma was out there somewhere, but nearby. He would come and tease me later. Tacoma had quit the AAO, I couldn't be sure if he was telling the truth but I decided not to trust him. Shiki was in the AAO, he was there as a spy, working through secret sources to inform Mother on the latest news. All thanks to him, we left the AAO, but I still couldn't escape the grasp of them. We had signed a contract and I was still bound to the AAO through some type of unknown magic. There was still a bound connecting me to them, I couldn't leave them completely. But I could stay away from them; the contract was hidden in some unknown place. I couldn't do involve anyone in this; anyone who had my blood would be bound to the AAO. It was a curse in other words.

Anyways, the play went on really well. When I went on stage, the people watching were cooing at my appearance. Natsume went on stage and was very irritated about his role. The worst part was when Narumi told Ruka to kiss me on the lips. What? Was this a settled scene?! I almost did that last time! Ruka was blushing madly, I hid my feelings away. But I was thinking of killing Narumi when this was done. Fortunately, Hotaru threw a duster at Ruka, it bounced off his head and she pulled the breaker down, plunging the whole place into momentary darkness. Immediately, Ruka backed away, his face was near enough to make it seem like he had kissed me. Then the play ended. I trashed Narumi up after that and modified the biscuit so that it made one speak bird language for two days and have a beak for that period too.

Natsume, Ruka and Hotaru joined in too, feeding him weird snacks they'd gotten from other stalls. Narumi wobbled away after we were done. I dusted my hands and handed Hotaru her camera, her eyes shone as she dashed away. Ruka and Natsume were staring after her. Poor things, they didn't notice that I'd taken pictures of them wearing the cat and dress costume. I snickered inwardly as I headed off with Tsubasa tailing obediently behind me.

&&&

Hotaru had developed the pictures perfectly. She had been selling them to students and animals that were interested. Unfortunately, some idiot took pictures of me wearing the dress, the poor Baka was going to be in **deep trouble…** But she gave me 10% of the money she collected from the sales anyway and sold those photos of me to Permy at a high price. I didn't need the money anyways, as a special star I practically received more money from the academy. Nothing interesting was happening, except that the last day of the festival was approaching, the dance was also approaching. I told Hotaru that I was going to partner her for the last dance, but she could always go off with someone else like Ruka. I could tell that she was going to fall in love with him, as with Ruka. It was like a neon sign, everyone could tell… Maybe I was the only one, though.

I went to the special abilities class more than I went to the D.A class. In fact, I skipped the D.A classes as much as I could, that was not included if Persona came looking for me. I would spend most of the time hiding away. Anyway, there wasn't anything much to do in D.A class. Tono was irritating me a little; he wanted to know where I went to every time Persona came. In fact, he started on saying how cute I was and tried to bully me every time his business went bad. I had no way but to act the way Natsume did-by stepping on his foot, using different Alices on him. I didn't use the Ice Alice, he was lucky. In fact, I used Bear to rid him. Weirdo guy…

It's silly, I know. Practically nothing much happened. The days passed really quickly. Then, **that** day came. The day when I discovered my Alice, the day I was transferred to here. Come to think of it, it was Natsume who helped me to discover what my Alice was. Without him, I would have failed the test Narumi gave me. I would have to get a present that would please him, although I didn't know what he liked. Come to think of it, Natsume's birthday was coming soon; I didn't know what to give him. Maybe I could return him the birthday present that I gave him two years ago, or the Alice stone that I promised him. But, whatever!

I walked across the grounds with practically every girl swooning at me. I kept my eyes down, anyone smart enough would keep himself or herself out of my way. Unless they wanted to be hit by Hotaru's infamous Baka cannon that she herself was carrying while walking by my side.

~*~*~

We were going out on an outing. The first time the Academy allowed us to go out. They had decided that the AAO wasn't going to pose as a threat and was allowing us to go out of the Academy for a week. Of course, the teachers would accompany us, and my class was chosen as one of the special classes to go. (They couldn't let everyone go) Tsubasa's and Misaki's class was chosen too. Great, two idiots would be hanging around me… not to mention, Permy was torn into three, and she was making the tough decision: sit with whom? Ruka, Natsume or me, she was planning on sitting with me. Not that I would mind, I would just give the person the silent treatment. However, Hotaru seemed to have something else in mind…

Natsume's POV

"Ruka, you're sitting next to me. Sakura, you'll sit next to Hyuuga. I don't care, Permy, you don't have anything to say in this." Hotaru said coldly as she positioned her Baka cannon into a terrifying position. Oh great, my partner was to seat beside me, not Ruka. What did the inventor want with him anyways? Permy was looking angry, she had planned to sit with Sakura, I had heard from her muttering. Sakura sat down beside me without a single complaint. What a guy, he actually listened to what the inventor had said. I was rather awed by Imai's control over him. We didn't say anything on the journey to… what was it? I think it was a private beach resort, from what I had heard.

"It _is_ a beach resort." Sakura said. I looked around in surprise, was he talking to me? "Duh, who else?" he said again. I stared at him. How did this guy read my mind? Unless, he had the mind reading Alice… Oh, whatever. I took my manga out to read just as I saw him smiling and turned his face away from me. I rolled my eyes and started reading.

~*~*~

We reached the resort just as the sky turned dark; Naru wanted us to hurry so he could do a headcount. We stepped into the resort, it seemed like it was empty. Until… "Sakura-kun!" a voice called out. I turned around to see a girl with curly black hair and green eyes hugging Sakura. Sakura's expression was enough to tell me that this girl was a pest. I set fire to her hair. "Ah! Ah!! Stop it!" she screamed, jumping around trying to put the fire out. Sakura looked at me as he gave me a relieved face. Why was I helping him to get rid of that irritating pest? Then he smirked at me.

"Sakura, she's a fly and she's going to buzz back any moment." Hotaru said as she strapped the Baka cannon to her arm. "I'll take care of that. She reminds me of how someone behaved…" Sakura said as a mask of pain settled across her face before it was replaced with a smirk. What did he mean? I studied him closely for the next few moments before another girl stuck herself onto me. "Hey, Yuki! This one's not bad looking too! But he's less handsome than Sakura-kun!" she squealed out loud to the other one grabbing onto Sakura. Urgh, she's like a slime ball. Then I heard a shout, I turned my head, Ruka was being attacked by a couple of other girls. Lucky for me, the girl detached herself from me as soon as she saw Ruka. He was being drowned by a torrent of girls crowding around him. I set fire to their hair and skirts; they ran away screaming for their lives.

Then I turned back with a neutral expression. I was going to regret coming on this 'vacation'… Sakura was being buried by the girls too. Hotaru was helping him to shoot off some of the girls too. But it didn't seem to work, I didn't bother to help out. He had a powerful Alice, why didn't he use it on the girls? Then one of the girls hugged him and his eyes widened fractionally before he pushed her away. A pink glow seemed to surround him as he murmured something to the girls. They turned pink before running away. The inventor and a few of the girls were blushing too; I thought it looked a little familiar… Was it Narumi's Alice? It looked like it. Sakura looked at me, as if he heard what I had thought. His lips were slightly curved, as if smiling. I looked closer; he was smiling even if it was a small smile. Then, it disappeared as Narumi danced into the room.

"Ok, listen up. I'll be dividing you all up; there are four beds in each room. So I'll separate you all into different groups." He announced. I listened carefully, keeping an ear out for my group. Then I noticed that Sakura was left out of the grouping. I was paired with Ruka, the inventor and Yuu Tobita, the class president. Wait, why was the inventor paired with us? I went up to Narumi and demanded for an explanation. "Well, Imai-chan could stay with Sakura if you don't mind…" he said as he looked at his list. "Ah, I've made a mistake. There's a room with five beds, that's your room. You don't mind if Sakura stayed with you, right?" he looked at us. "If it's Sakura, then it's fine…" Ruka said, "But with Hotaru-chan, we're not so, because she's a girl…" Iinchou helped him finish the sentence.

"Didn't I mention this before? Sakura needs help from Imai…with some certain matters. This room has a wall that divides the last bed from the other three." Narumi said as he looked at us. A small dagger whistled past his head, chopping off a lock of his hair and sticking itself onto the wall behind him. "Don't call me as if you know me very well, _Father._" Sakura said coldly. Then he turned around and said, "Let's go, Hotaru." And walked off, swinging a key on his finger. We looked at each other and followed the two persons.

The door swung open to reveal a light blue room. There were three beds, the size of those three stars beds clustered in another room that could be seen through a door nearby. The room that we were currently in had pale green walls and there was a table with five chairs around it, a couch and four other black leathered chairs surrounding it placed in front of a huge plasma TV. There were three other rooms; one which was the room Sakura and Imai were to stay in, a huge empty room that was Hotaru's invention room and a kitchen.

The room where Imai and Sakura were in had a **huge** king sized bed, big enough for twenty people to sleep in and there was a small tea table and two chairs perched in front of it, like our room. We dumped our luggage in our respective room before heading down to the restaurant Narumi told us to assemble at.

Sakura's POV

I was satisfied with my room and Hotaru was obviously pleased with it. I hoped that no one would start to think that Hotaru and I were dating, because it was not true. Well, the hotel had hot springs, but the problem was that I could not go to the guy's one as I was a girl. Neither could I go to the girl's one or the girls would misunderstand or something like that. Luckily, there was one for teachers; Narumi said I could go in there with Serina-sensei… But I had to do it quietly or else the others would misunderstand. Urgh, this was taking a risk on my gender… I could only hope that no one knew. We finished dinner and went back to our rooms to prepare for the bath in the hot spring. I watched Hotaru prepare the things that she needed, when an idea struck me. "Hey, Hotaru, don't pack up now. Come to the teacher's hot spring with me." I told her. She looked at me out of the corner of her eye.

"You still don't believe that I'm a girl, right? This would be the chance for me to demonstrate to you. The teacher's one is more luxurious…" I told her. Then she nodded and sat down on the bed. I stood up and went to watch the boys who were making their departure. "You're not coming with us?" Iinchou asked me. "No. I'm taking one with Narumi… at the teacher's hot spring." I replied. _Hotaru is not going? Or it's that she already left…_Ruka was thinking. I was amused with what he was thinking. "Hotaru is going to take one with Serina." I replied to his question. Natsume raised an eyebrow at me as he came out of his room. He was the last one to come out from the toilet.

I studied him. Huh. He was still a kiddy, I guess. The others filled him in on what I had just said and they left. I could hear Natsume thinking,_ what does Narumi want with him anyway?_ So the famous Hyuuga Natsume was worried for me? This was going to be fun… Even though I liked him.

&&&&

We came back from the hot spring without any incident. Hotaru tried to take pictures of me…um… without my clothes on. I knew she was planning to launch a sale of my picture if she took it. I splashed water at the camera, destroying it. Hotaru was pissed, but I wasn't lying when I said the teacher's hot spring was luxurious. She decided to come with me to the hot spring every day, just to enjoy the hot spring. Sigh, but she was still not familiar with me as a girl. Natsume and Ruka were curious about why we were given a special privilege; Natsume was a special star but was not allowed to go. Permy thought it was outrageous that her 'Natsume-kun' was not given the special privilege.

But it was peaceful at the resort, no screaming crowds of fans crowding around me every day. Well, Permy is an exception; but she sticks to Natsume more. Persona will be stuck at the Academy since it's only two classes that got to come out. The school said that the AAO wouldn't find us. But I wasn't so sure of that, after all; Tacoma was in the school compound and he might be a spy for the AAO. But I couldn't know anything, since he was very good at controlling his thoughts around me. But the AAO wasn't stupid enough that they didn't know that the academy had let us out. There was something up; did the academy want us to do something? Persona didn't mention anything… What was going on?


	10. Chapter 10

Also, I had a bad premonition that something bad was going to come up…

Chapter 9

It was already midway through the 'holiday' session and nothing had happened. Nothing uneventful, however that was not to be after a day of luxurious treatment. Whispers started spreading around when I passed by three of the maids of the resort. I used my mind reading Alice to listen to what she was whispering. **Have you heard? There's a maid called Shizuka Azumi… she claims to be Sakura-kun's fiancée! Ah, she's heading here now!** Oh crap! I looked around, hoping to see a place where I could hide from the whirlwind, or rather, the storm. Unfortunately, she spotted me before I could make my getaway. "Sakura, how nice it is to see you again! My poor darling, have you been missing me? Don't worry; I'll take proper care of you now!" Shizuka squealed as she leapt onto me. I could feel the stares of the three maids boring into me, yet they did not dare to approach. Sigh. This was going to be hell. "Shizuka, you've been spreading rumors, or rather, gossip to the maids. We are not fiancés. Have you forgotten something that Yuka told you?" I said as I detached her from my arm. Shizuka pouted, "Yes, I do know that, Sakura. But this is for your own good." That was true… Although I did not know how to deal with it if it spreaded to the school. The higher ups would probably capture Shizuka and threaten me. Still, I had no control over what Shizuka said. I frowned a little and shrugged. She smiled at me sweetly, a little too sweetly… Uh oh… "Come; let me accompany you for the rest of the day!" She said. My prediction was right.

&&

What was the school planning for me? They had sent a few of the classes out… were they sent as bait? Or did they want to test Natsume and me? What were their intentions? "Sakura, Sakura? Mikan!" someone hissed softly. I jerked out of my reverie. "Huh? Hotaru, what is it?" I asked, confused. "They're going to have a dance. Apparently, everyone must attend and it seems like you will have to dress as a guy…" Hotaru whispered. "I'm used to it, Hotaru. I've been disguised as a guy for a year." I murmured back.

"Hey, Sakura, who is this?" someone yet again interrupted me. "Sigh. Shizuka…" I was about to reprimand her when a crowd of guys jumped in front of her. "Who are you?" "Move away! Shizuka-sama's mine!" A chorus of arguments broke out. "Was it really necessary?" I asked her after I managed to tear my gaze away from the squabbling guys.

_**Natsume's**_ _**POV**_

Hotaru was whispering to the guy, Sakura. Apparently, someone had dozed off when Narumi was making his perverted announcements. I inched closer, hoping to catch what they were saying when a girl, a maid loped over to stand behind Sakura. Who was she? She had silver hair and she had purple eyes. She looked like Sakura… The way she held herself was like a duplicate of Sakura. "Hey, Sakura, who's this?" She chirped gaily. Sakura sighed and managed to say, "Shizuka…"before a group of boys burst in front of her protectively. They started questioning Sakura about his identity. Really, these kind of guys are insufferable, a disgrace to the race of men. I had half a mind to start burning them when the guys started arguing about a comment someone made. Sakura looked on in amusement. Then he broke his gaze away and looked at Shizuka before he asked, "Was it really necessary?" "Of course, how else would I be able to exercise my Alice?" she said indignantly. He shook his head and saw me looking at him. We didn't break eye contact and when he did, he asked with an innocent expression on his face, "Is there anything wrong, Polka dots?" Polka dots? Why did he call me that? It was a moment before I realized that he had seen my boxers… the polka dotted ones. I glared at him, "Want to risk your hair, mister?" he smirked at me before the girl, Shizuka broke in. "Hey, don't address Sakura so rudely, you commoner!" she was mesmerizing, I almost felt compelled to agree with her, she was perfect. _That's not true! There's someone even better than her!_ A part of my body told me.

Then the feeling that I had to obey her stopped. "I told you to stop, Shizuka." Sakura sighed. "Mou… you're spoiling my fun, Sakura." Shizuka pouted as she looked at him. He shrugged, seemingly nonchalant. "Who is she, Sakura?" it sounded more like a statement, but I didn't want to get too friendly with this guy. He had a feeling about him, something bad… it was just a feeling though, and feelings weren't necessarily correct all the time. "Um… she's my…" Sakura seemed reluctant to part with the knowledge. "I'm Sakura's fiancé!" Shizuka chirped merrily. Sakura sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose as everyone stared at him and Shizuka. "Was that really necessary, Shizuka? We're just cousins. That's all. I'm not engaged to her in any way." Sakura tried to explain to us. Sumire, Permy, had been nearby when this little conversation took place, she flew into a mad rage when she heard that Sakura was engaged to Shizuka. "How dare you say that you are Sakura's fiancée? He's mine, I tell you, MINE!" Permy shrieked. A barrier appeared between the mad Permy who lost her mind over Sakura's 'engagement'. Sakura was not pleased with how the conversation was turning out. He had a thoughtful look on his face before he stood up and proceeded to walk away.

"Aren't you going to help out your fiancée?" I asked mockingly as I followed him. He shrugged again and continued walking. It wasn't until I felt the temperature had decreased that I realized Sakura had led me to a tree. There was a forest behind the resort, and the tree Sakura chose to seat against was a Sakura tree. He leaned against the trunk and closed his eyes. It was a while before he started a conversation with me. "That girl is my cousin, Shizuka Azumi. Shizuka and I met last year, at an errand my mother sent me out to do. She forgot that Shizuka was coming and I found her in an alley way, being bullied by some gangsters. They didn't survive to see the next day." Sakura said as a cold smile formed on his face. I shuddered. This guy was freaking creepy. He talked about his killing of people like it was a normal conversation over tea. This person was cold blooded. But then again, I had no right to say him since I was one myself. A small smile formed on his lips, as if in response to my thoughts.

"What do want, Hyuuga?" Sakura asked suddenly. 'Huh?" I was stunned momentarily. "You wouldn't have followed me if you wanted to know something." Sakura pointed out. That was true, why did I follow him out here anyways? 'Hn. No idea." I replied silently. He opened his eyes and chuckled, "That wouldn't do. Are you stalking me? Perhaps you are a gay…" He mused, enjoying himself; I could imagine all the things that he was considering about me. "Don't even think about it, you Naru-fan." I retorted back, strangely enough, I was enjoying myself. This was the first person, other than Ruka who had let me feel this kind of feeling. I felt comfortable around him. However, there was another feeling deep within me waiting to be found. I knew it was there, but it eluded me every time I tried to figure out what it was. "Don't." Sakura murmured it so softly that I almost couldn't catch it. "What?" I said, Sakura shook his head and stood up. "Hey, what's with you? You wouldn't mix around with anyone, much less guys. Are you a couple with Hotaru?" the questions poured out of me as I grabbed his hand. It was so sudden, but when I recovered from my shock I realized that Sakura had twisted my wrist and dumped me on the ground. 'What's up with you, what a weird guy?" I muttered to myself as I stood up, cradling my wrist. "Did you really have to do that?" I asked him angrily. Sakura shrugged. Again, that answer that he seemed so accustomed to be giving me. "Damn you, Sakura!" I yelled at him as I stalked away with no idea where I was headed to.

Mikan's POV

I had never thought that Natsume would be that upset. Nor did I expect him to be angry; he was becoming attached to me. It was not supposed to be like that, I was messing everything up. Natsume wasn't supposed to be attached to me. I should be able to relax after Mother and I managed to escape from the AAO. But I couldn't escape from the tense situation at hand: get Mother out of harm's way. That Elementary School Principal was still hunting her like a fox after a rabbit. Poor Mother, it was well enough that he didn't know of my existence. Although he might suspect it through my surname, it was well-covered. After all, I wasn't the only one in Japan with the surname of Azumi. Shizuka was my cousin, I mean genuinely. But the tradition of the family was that boys had to marry the cousins and so on, for whatever reason, I am not sure. It has been like that since my great-great grandparent's generation; the problem was that there were no guys in the family. But I wasn't registered as my grandparents had decided to treat like Mother wasn't their own. I felt a burst of anger and a tree nearby burst into flames. I pinched the bridge of my nose; _don't get into a temper out here. I don't want the whole forest bursting into flames…_ I thought silently in my head. Luckily, nothing happened.

"Hey, Sakura!" I heard someone shout my name. It was Iinchou, "Sakura-kun, Narumi-sensei says that everyone has to go down to the beach. We will assemble at the front of the bus stop in ten minutes. He wants us to get ready and bring our sandals, swimsuits and whatever things we want. There will be a sandcastle competition later, so…" he was huffing out and I interrupted him saying, "You don't need to say anymore, Iinchou. I know what you mean." He nodded and I offered to help him pass the message. "Thanks Sakura-kun! That'll help me out a lot!" he said with a grateful look in his eyes as he went to find the others.

&&&

"Aren't you going to swim, Sakura-sama?" Permy said flirtatiously as she sat beside me on the blanket Hotaru had spreaded out. **Baka!** She was hit by Hotaru's Baka gun. "Ouch! What did you do that for, Imai! That hurt a lot you know! I'm going to sue you if Sakura doesn't find me pretty!" Permy complained loudly. "Get off my blanket." Hotaru replied coldly as she occupied the seat next to me. "But I could let you seat here if…" She said with a glint in her eye. Permy groaned, "How much?" Hotaru's eyes sparkled, more money was coming her way and it was from a good source as Permy would do anything to get that seat beside me. I repeat, **Anything**. "One thousand yen." Hotaru said turning her attention to a pile of letters that she had bought along with her. "Need help with that, Hotaru? I've got nothing to do here." I volunteered myself to thirty minutes of letter reading for her. She nodded and separated the pile into two equal halves and pushed one stack to me. I picked one up and started reading…

[Cut out from letter]

___Dear Miss Imai Hotaru,_

___I am Mr Atonally from Italy. Lately, my daughter has been depressed as her pet dog died. Could you make an electronic dog that is like a real one, is intelligent and has feelings? I would pay any amount of money for the dog, so long as you make it. I do not want to see her in this condition, it makes me sad too. Most unfortunately, my daughter is handicapped, she almost died with grief when the dog died; it has been like a mother to her. She has no mother, you see. However, I am not inclined to marry another woman as no one can take that place in her heart now and I do not want to burden her with a woman who cares about money only. These types of selfless woman are very rare and there is no one who can replace my precious wife. I would not want to cause any pressure on you as I understand that you have other people's works to tend to… …_

___I looked up from the letter. It was quite touching, I was impelled to help this poor man find happiness for his daughter. "Hey, Hotaru, if you don't mind, I can help you out with the orders." I told her. She looked at me with a speculative spark in her eyes and consented. I read several more letters and chose those that touched me deeply. I touched Hotaru's arm briefly as I copied her Alice, it was like an electric tingle shooting through my arm. I set on my work, sketching out the details, what the design would be and so on. Eventually, the others came out from the water to have a break and their lunch. "Wow! Amazing work, Sakura-kun!" someone gushed. I didn't need to look up to recognize the voice. It was Ruka, for sure. I felt a swell of pride but ignored it, if I was distracted, then the work would be destroyed. I could only fuel need to help, to relieve the daughter's pain, not pride. It had to be perfect for the little girl. I had seen her in the photo Mr Atonally had sent from Italy, I was going to sell him the dog on one condition: that he sent me letters about how his daughter was faring. He had agreed. I programmed the dog to send me daily reports and stalled a device in it, a device that could only be found by a child who was playing with it. An Italian child would know what was wrong with the dog._

_It was just a precaution to check out whether the man was telling the truth or not. It was not that I trusted him, but the work has to be from the person who is going to sell it and not someone else. But whatever... "Done." I muttered in satisfaction as I touched up on the dog. It was golden in color, a pair of purple eyes, all according to the picture of the dog I had received. "Oh, nice dog, Sakura! Are you helping Hotaru out?" someone said. I looked up, "Shizuka? How did you manage to escape from the resort?" I asked, not interested in what she was going to reply. "Oh, well… I used my Alice a little." She said rather guiltily. "What! It's dangerous, you know!" I hissed at her, looking around to make sure no one was looking. "No, no, you don't understand, Sakura. I can use this Alice whenever I want to. After all, it was Aunt Yuka who gave it to me. Plus I have no control over it, so it won't affect me much." Shizuka said with a wave of her hand. Then she sat down beside me, "Besides, shouldn't you be in the water? I've never known that you can resist jumping into the water without killing yourself first." She said, smiling. "You think I can swim in this form? They'll think I'm a homosexual!" I objected. "Ah… so that's the reason why…" Shizuka trailed off. _

_ "__Why what?" I asked when I couldn't keep my curiosity from 'killing' me. "So that's why Narumi and the other people are looking at you with that look." She replied with a slight smirk. I looked up and saw Narumi with a pitying look on his face, everyone had that look on too. I gritted my teeth and searched out Narumi's mind. __Poor child. I bet Hotaru threatened him to help her out with her work. Well, that can't be avoided when you are Hotaru's best friend…____ The pervert teacher was thinking. If there was anything that I hated, it was being pitied by everyone. I had vowed not to deem myself as pitiful as it would affect Mother. Everyone would pick on her if I was not good. That had become a habit of mine: beat up anyone who thought that I was pitiful. "Narumi's going to get it." I growled. "You shouldn't pick on the poor guy. After all, that's what anyone would think. Shouldn't you go back to your original gender and release the memories back to them, Mikan? I'm becoming a little tired of this acting. Bubbly and cheerful is not a part of who I am. Walls have ears, you know." Shizuka said softly. I sighed. "But Mother would be in trouble, I can't let that ____**man**____ know who I am. I, too, am thinking of ending this soon. Once again…" I trailed off, staring out to the vast ocean, looking at the classmates of mine who were playing. They would never feel the pain that I had felt, it was worse than the normal in the AAO. They had forced me to bend to their will. In those kinds of places, no one cared. No one was around to help you, if you were injured and was going to die of blood loss, no one would care. It simply meant that you were too weak to support the name and burden of the AAO. No one was there to help you, the whole world was just a big empty globe…_

_I sighed and shook my head. "It's been too long since I've seen Mother. Do you want to come with us back to the school?" I asked Shizuka. 'Of course I'm coming! You think I'm going to miss out on the fun?" she demanded indignantly. I laughed at her expression. Shizuka never looked pretty with an indignant look, but she looked cute as she pouted. "Sure, sure." I said with a smile to go with my statement. Then, I spotted Yuu walking towards me and felt a headache coming on. Oh no… this probably meant that someone or someones were trying to get their memories back. "Why don't you just let them have those back?" Shizuka enquired as she examined the look on my face. "What if they betray me? I wouldn't be able to live if this goes out, Shizuka. My Mother might not even live even if she doesn't want to." I hissed at her, my eyes blazing. Hotaru glanced up as several bushes nearby exploded into flames and a pond behind us froze with a very loud 'crack'. _

_"__Cool down, Mikan." She looked at me with an expressionless face. I struggled with my emotions as they threatened to overcome me. This was the bad thing about having too many Alices at once, you could cause potential damage to anything within a twenty mile radius. "I'll go for a walk." I said as I stood up, hoping to get away before someone got hurt. Hotaru nodded and said, "Go. Quick." I was running towards the trees before she completed her sentence, I activated an Alice that enabled me to run fast. I felt the wind comb my hair out behind me, it trailed its fingers through the thick brown golden mass. Anyone who saw me would've thought I was a girl. But I was one… it wouldn't do if I remained in this form; that was true. But the problem was when could I turn back to my original form? Who could I trust? Who would support me? I stopped suddenly, awed by the sight that lay before me. It was a meadow, daisies, lavenders, sunflowers, roses, tulips were planted here and there; it was so pretty that I forgot my worries for a moment. Then a pink flower caught my eye, I bent down to pick it up; it was a Sakura flower. With a pang, I remembered Kai, my dear brother. I knelt down closing my eyes to the world. __Why? Why did it end up like that? Why is it like that? Why aren't I like myself? I can't feel like 'Mikan' used to, why aren't I Mikan?____ I questioned myself ruthlessly, hoping to revert back to my old self. Shizuka was right in some ways, I wanted to be Mikan, the happy-go-lucky girl. But I couldn't feel like I used to anymore. Why was this happening? Why couldn't I feel like myself anymore? Where had 'I' gone to? I clutched myself in agony, hoping not to fall into pieces as I sank to my knees and shut my eyes tightly._

___That's all for now… Sorry for delaying the chapter, everyone!_


	11. Chapter 11

Sorry for delaying this chapter! I had a writing block on this chapter for a very long time…

Chapter 11

Shizuka followed us back to the Academy after the incident where she turned her Alice on Narumi. It was pretty amusing to see Narumi falling under her Alice immediately. It was lucky we had it done in an empty room, or else Narumi would have been embarrassed for life. Hotaru, being the blackmailer she was, took a video of the event and used it as the ultimate material to make Narumi listen to her.

Narumi gave in. That's why I'm stuck in the bus with two squabbling girls on either side of me. Even Hotaru's blackmail couldn't make them go away. I was sure doomed with these two girls.

"No, he belongs to _all of us!_" Permy screamed. I winced, _screw the previous thought. I was—_

"Sakura is _my _fiancé! He doesn't belong to any girl but **me**!" Shizuka shrieked, I covered my ears. _Having two girls quarrelling over me was annoying as my brain was going to implode from overload of girlish nonsense from the two beside me._

Hotaru looked at me with pity in her eyes, Narumi was amused and Natsume was… jealous. Too bad for Natsume.

"Excuse me… Sakura-san?" Luca's timid voice sounded from behind me. I turned around, grateful for the distraction.

"Imai-san asked me to pass the message on that she wants to talk to you… if you get out of this." Luca said. I threw a glance behind me; Hotaru was sipping a cup of cold orange juice as she stared at me, a smirk evident on her face.

I sighed and leaned my head against the chair, blocking the noise off and turned my mind to other matters.

Persona had not objected to the idea like I thought he would. D.A students being let out of the Academy was dangerous and the Elementary School Principal would have dragged Natsume and I out of this. There was something was fishy about this, who would let two of the 'prized possessions of the Elementary School Principal' get out of his sight?

In the mean time, I had nothing to do and was getting quite bored. Mother would be in the Academy, Shiki would be coming in to report about the AAO. Sakurano and Subaru had been told about the resistance party to the Elementary School Principal.

Things were starting to gear up; more and more people were beginning to get involved in this party. Hotaru had started to make weapons in her lab. She told me it was just in case anything came up. Our next meeting with Shiki was tomorrow, so there was some time to dig around the school and catch up on the latest events.

The bus shuddered to a halt and for one moment, I thought we had reached our destination. Then there was a shout and a gun shot. Something was up, and we were right in the middle of it. The girls' squabbling had died down and I could hear Narumi's voice whispering our situation into his phone.

"Get down on the floor and no movements unless you want the man to drop dead." A voice said.

Everyone got up and followed his instructions, even I did too. The 'hijacker' was wearing black and had a black mask on his face. His eyes swept over us and he turned around.

"Reo-sama, they're all here! Including the famous Black Cat you mentioned!" he shouted. His gun was aimed at us and our bus driver was slumped over the wheel, blood pooling around him. Dead.

"Shut up, you'll alert the outsiders that we're kidnapping them." Reo said as he boarded the bus and looked at the load of students. It must be fated that I had an encounter with him two years ago and another one at the AAO. Fate is so twisted sometimes.

"Sakura, are you alright? Your Nullification must've protected you, because while you were sleeping, they blasted some music sung by Reo and that's why they can't move freely now. I can move my lips because of your Nullification stone, but I can't move my body." Shizuka whispered, her lips barely moving. I remembered the small Nullification stone a few months after our meeting; it must've protected her partially.

"No talking, kids back there!" the man barked as Reo climbed into sight. He saw Narumi on the floor and his eyebrows shot right up.

"Sempai, I'm surprised… We meet again. Ah, and the Kuro Neko too… This is such a coincidence that we meet each other here." Reo said, using his Alice.

Too bad it didn't have an effect on me.

And too bad his kidnapping was going to fail.

I focused on the Alices his guard had. Once again, it was the Barrier Alice; I keep running into that **all** the time. Now would probably be a good time to teleport out and get some help. The Barrier Alice would be near useless if I used my Nullification.

To use two Alices at the same time would take a lot of concentration, but I was sure I could manage. There was a huge flash of blue light and I was out of the bus immediately. I could hear the chaos in the bus back there.

_Better get moving. _I used an Invisibility Alice to sneak around the bus. There were four guards, including the one inside and Reo; all of them were Alice-users. A Barrier, Flying, Ice, Doppelganger and Mind reader; quite a mixture though they weren't anything to Nullification.

I sneaked up on the four guards and knocked them out before stealing their guns and tying them up. This was really easy. I teleported onto the bus to find that Reo was trying to extract information on where the 'missing' one was; what a silly question…

The guard collapsed immediately when I landed a blow and I threw the gun out of the door. Reo looked up, startled by his guard collapsing suddenly.

He looked around warily, trying to find any hints of an attacker. "Show yourself!" he cried out, infusing the message with the Voice Pheromone. It was a pretty strong attack, but I had the Nullification and his Alice was rendered useless.

I decided to have some fun with the Alice Tacoma had so kindly gave me when I brushed his hand accidentally two years ago.

Immediately, Reo slumped to the ground and a snore was heard. Urgh, what a troublesome man. Tacoma's Alice was a Sleeping Alice that enabled the target to fall asleep with one look.

I slid forward silently to sit beside Shizuka and came to view as I let the Invisibility down. I changed Shizuka's face back again as I had changed her face in the moment before I teleported out and after I used the Nullification.

"That was fast." Shizuka told me and I shrugged, it would be better if we could continue on our way as soon as possible. I saw Narumi give me a look as he dialed the Academy again.

~*~*~*~*~

It was good to be back at the Academy. However, the recent accident when we came back was making me wonder… how did Reo get out from the Academy? It was certainly suspicious. Persona saved me from thinking too much when he appeared outside my room again.

"This is your latest mission." He said, tossing the familiar black file to me.

"The mission contents are inside and I expect you to be back soon. Your teachers will be informed of your absence." Persona continued and he disappeared from sight.

I opened the file and groaned. I would need a disguise for this mission as stated. **Retrieve a disc from the AAO branch you went to 2 years ago.** That was my latest mission. I remembered Hotaru's ring that could disguise me as Imai Sakura and Luca's Animal Pheromone that had helped us find the AAO branch. A laptop would be useful if I was going to copy the information into another disc.

I went off to inform Hotaru and Shizuka, hoping I could manage to get something from Hotaru free. Not that it would ever happen.

~*~*~*~*~

With the disguise intact, I headed to the High School Division. The big problem was how to get the key from Sakurano and Subaru. They would surely disagree with my request… wouldn't they? I sucked on the Guillotine sweet as I teleported into the premises of the High School Division.

It was a good thing I hadn't forgotten where they were staying. Finding the notebook was another matter, though. I searched high and low, but I still couldn't find the notebook… Damn those two. I was running out of time.

Where on Earth would Sakurano place that notebook and key?! Sheesh!

There was a murmur of voices and the door opened just as Sakurano and Subaru stepped into the room. Sakurano sank into a chair, dropping all his books onto the small table with a thump.

"It looks like someone has been in here, Subaru." He voiced out his thought as he glanced around the messy room. Oops, I had forgotten to clean up my mess… Caught guilty by Sakurano. Good thing I had remembered to use my Invisibility Alice.

"Yes. I don't think our little intruder found what she was looking for, though." Subaru knelt down and picked a handkerchief off the floor. Caught guilty by Subaru now… Oh no, that's Hotaru's handkerchief—she lent it to me before I left two years ago. _I'm so sorry, Hotaru!_

Subaru was squinting at the initials on the handkerchief, "Property of Hotaru Imai. If found, please return and pay 2000 rabbits or be fined 50000 rabbits." He read out loud. Hotaru's messages really could cheer my life up… In fact, the words were chilling me to the bone now.

I inched towards Sakurano; if the notebook was with them, it had to be with Sakurano. The problem was where had he put it? One place would be in that pile of books… or his pocket.

"Do you think the person might have been looking for this?" Sakurano asked as he pulled the notebook out of his pocket and flipped the notebook open to reveal a shining key. Perfect. Now, how was I going to get that notebook?

"Maybe, the person didn't take anything from the room." Subaru paced around the room. Sharp. I took one step towards Sakurano just as he stood up.

"Well, we should tidy the room up and go for dinner. It's probably Tonouichi and his gang or someone else." Sakurano said lightly as he slid the book into his text book. Subaru kept silent and they started cleaning up the room.

I slipped the notebook out and stuffed it in my pocket and left the note that I had written into the textbook. Then I teleported out of the room.

_Dear Subaru 'Oniisan',_

_I'll be borrowing the portal key and the notebook for a mission. Thanks._

_Imai Sakura, little sister of Imai Hotaru_

Well, I would be handing Hotaru a load of trouble in the form of her brother but there was a need for the note since I was taking it without permission _and _it was what Uncle told me to do. Later, when the moon shone in through the huge glass windows, I opened the portal without much difficulty and was on my way to complete the mission.

~*~*~*~*~

Landing in the meadow and hiking up over the hill all the way to the volcano in one day was exhausting. But I was in the AAO branch by morning; the ruins were overgrown with plants and the sunlight emphasized on how worn down the building was. The disc is in one of the computers in the room where Natsume caused the explosion.

How useful. I remembered that there were more than four computers in the room. Their information wasn't helping to me any much. Thankfully, the disc proved easy to find as there was only one computer that was still working in there.

Hotaru had given me a tiny laptop to copy the information from the disc. She didn't charge me for that, thank heavens. I only needed to wait for a full minute and it had done its duty. I got up, ready to leave when my gaze landed on a painting. It seemed familiar and I recalled where I had seen it.

It was the graveyard of Penguin; come to think of it, it had been 2 years ago. The laptop beeped, reminding me of the task at hand and I pulled the disc out as I watch the laptop start to unravel the information it had found.

_500 files copied. Do you want to view them now? _The textbox popped up. I clicked 'no' and stored all the copied information into another disc. It would be safer that way and Hotaru had already told me to throw the laptop away after I had used it. I placed the two discs into my pocket and got ready to leave.

The snap of a twig should have alerted me that I wasn't the only one there, but I didn't pay attention to it. Because of that, I was kidnapped a _second_ time.

~*~*~*~*~*~

I awoke groggily to find myself bound and gagged in the boot of a car. Boy, it was _sweltering _in there. Wasn't there any ventilation around? It was frustrating how I managed to land myself in these kidnapping situations all the time.

From what I could tell, the car was moving on some highway judging from the hum of other cars rushing past. There was no Alice cloaking the car and the person driving it was a non-Alice user. They must have trusted the medicine to keep me knocked out until we had reached our destination.

Bad luck for them, I guess.

I rummaged in my pockets and scowled when I realized that the two discs were gone. The kidnappers must have taken them away so I wouldn't accomplish my mission. How troublesome. They hadn't taken the key and the notebook from me; that was good.

I teleported to the backseat of the car and listened to the two AAO kidnappers converse in low voices.

"Boss will be pleased with the good work we've done." The smug driver said.

"Yeah, that Alice user back in the boot didn't get the information so that's good." The plump passenger said as he held up two discs. I leaned forward and swiped the two discs out of his hand, sliding it into my pocket.

I was out of there immediately and on my way back to the Academy. The trip _did _take quite a bit out of me as the distance between the Academy and my location was too much to cover. I landed in an alleyway to rest.

I managed to get some bread from a kindly old woman. She offered to take me in and I refused her generous offer—she could be in trouble if I stayed with her. Wandering along the dark alleys, I found a box that was big enough to fit me and crawled inside and fell asleep immediately.

When I woke up, the sun was shining dimly and there were big thunderous clouds drifting above the town. I felt refreshed and teleported to the front of the Academy. The guards recognized my uniform and pulled me in immediately.

"Call the higher ups! We've found a student wandering outside the Academy!" the guard shouted. He thought that I was a student attempting to leave the Academy? Ridiculous! As if _I'd _want to return to the world out there. Not after knowing it was dangerous while I had my Alices.

"Let go of me!" I hissed as I jerked my arm out of his and stalked up the long pathway to the dormitories to get cleaned up. It would be easier to use the Teleportation Alice, but I was exhausted by the previous teleportation.

I heard the guards talking to each other in surprise, the radio was blaring loudly with messages from the 'higher ups'. I crept around the dormitories before I spotted my window. Deciding that my body couldn't hold the strain of another Alice usage, I quickly climbed up a tall pine tree outside my window and jumped in.

The room was clean and tidy; credit to the robot caretaker. I wanted to jump into the shower at once, but first… I had to hide the information I had obtained. The invisible bag that Hotaru gave me years ago would be good for this.

I entered the toilet for a bath and set the two discs aside. I showered and hid the copy in the invisible bag stuck in one of the cupboards in the bathroom. Then I took the key and the notebook and shoved it into my pocket. The original copy went into another pocket.

I met Persona in the D.A. classroom and handed him the disc. He took it and said, "Good work, Shiro Neko. However, your capture by the AAO wasn't really dignified for the top agent of the Dangerous Ability class and I _am_ disappointed by it."

I scoffed silently at his remark. It didn't matter to me that he was disappointed anyway. He flicked his hand, dismissing me as he headed to decipher the information. I left the room and clutched the invisible bag in my pocket.

It was time to go and decipher _this part _of the information too. I might as well let Subaru and Sakurano know what was going on, seeing that I was going to have to explain for the missing key and notebook. And I would probably need Hotaru with me too.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

"Hotaru, are you in?" I opened the bedroom door silently. It was night and I had just come back from visiting the High School Principal and a nap. Shiki was there and I had told him what had happened on my mission as I handed them the disc I copied.

"I'm in here, Mikan." Hotaru called back, recognizing my voice.

"Sumire has been annoying." She told me as she put her tools aside. "She was a good try out for the Baka cannon version 3."

Hotaru was as mean as ever… Spotting the numerous pictures of Natsume and Luca on the wall nearby, I gaped. Hotaru has been busy, the last time I saw the wall the pictures were only a couple dozen.

"Imai-san, are you in?" someone called as an insistent knocking began on the door. Hotaru looked at the door, then at me.

"That's Sakurano and Subaru-nii chan." She informed me coolly. How could she be so calm! Well, Sakurano and Subaru coming over _did _save me time from going over to the High School Division to find them.

The door opened and Subaru walked in with Sakurano behind him. Both of them spotted me and Subaru's face darkened considerably.

"Where did you take that notebook to? Do you realize that if you lost it, the Academy would be invaded by organizations from the outside?" he shouted at me.

"Why don't you tell us everything, Sakura- no, Mikan, the High School Principal has given us permission to be in on this. You'll be telling us everything, no?" Sakurano said, placing a hand on Subaru's shoulder. I nodded and launched into the tale.

~*~*~*~*~

"I see… so this was the reason why some students reported seeing you near the High School Division." Sakurano mused as he sipped from his cup of tea that Hotaru had provided—surprisingly. Subaru had kept silent throughout the whole conversation and Hotaru added in a few remarks here and there during the tale.

"We'll accept your apology this time. Next time, ask permission!" Subaru said sternly. I nodded, keeping an apologetic look on my face.

"Besides, the High School Division will be helping out with the High School Principal's plan. The **whole **of the High School Division, in fact as the High School Principal notified the whole Division of what has been going on." Sakurano said, standing up and getting ready to leave.

"We will get in contact with Tonouichi about this. Shiki-san told us to tell you that _he _is the top of AAO." Subaru told us, heading out of the room with Sakurano in front of him.

"Make sure you get Hyuuga and Nogi notified. We won't want them clueless about this." Sakurano said over his shoulder and the door closed. The only sound left was of Hotaru's machine cleaning up the cups and Hotaru sagged against the couch.

"It's time to let them know?" I asked Hotaru, leaning into the couch too. Shizuka would have to be told about the latest change of plans.

"Yes, this also means wearing skirts to school." She replied with a smirk on her face as she looked at me. "You're supposed to be a girl, remember?" I could feel my stomach twisting into knots at her face.

I ignored her question and stood, "Come on, let's go tell Shizuka and the two guys." I shoved my hands into my pockets and I heard her call out behind me, "Remember to change!"

I gritted my teeth. Hotaru loved rubbing this in…

~*~*~*~*~

I came out dressed in a chocolate shirt and blue skirt with black boots. Hotaru was snapping pictures of me as I tied my hair in two ponytails. Then she dragged me down to Luca's room where she had told the two boys to wait in.

"Sakura-kun, what are you doing!" Luca's face turned red when he saw me and Hotaru used the money making machine on him. "You're wearing the wrong clothes! Eh?" Luca stopped in his tracks when I shoved my student pass in front of him.

"I'm a female. Disguising like a guy was part of the ruse my mother thought up." I replied shortly, feeling my face go as red as a beetroot. "You should know who she is, right? Azumi Yuka in the AAO and Z organization…"

I saw Natsume stiffen out of the corner of my eye. He knew who Mother was as he had met her once last year when she rescued him from being trapped under a big boulder. He glared at me, the fire in his eyes blazing fiercely.

"You're a part of the AAO." He stated firmly, there was no doubt in him; I was an enemy.

"Stop that, Hyuuga. I know she is from AAO and that she has been in the Academy two times. Well, this time is the third time she's been here." Hotaru pointed the Baka gun at him. Luca paled.

"What, why… How can you be fraternizing with the enemy, Imai?" Luca cried, surprised by the news. Hotaru stared at me, her Baka cannon was ready to shift focus if need be. I sighed.

"Must I really return them those memories, Hotaru?" I whined; my hand was in the pocket grasping two stones. Hotaru narrowed her eyes and her hand moved into her bag to come out grasping a large Baka cannon. I gulped.

"Just do it already, Mikan." Shizuka's impatient voice sounded from behind me. "If you want, I can help you insert them in." her voice sounded hopeful. I pulled the two stones out, deciding to avoid Shizuka's offer; I wouldn't want the two guys to get hurt by someone who didn't know how to insert the memory stones in.

Shizuka pouted and watched as I held Luca firmly and pushed the stone into his head. Natsume gasped and before he knew it, the stone had already sunk into his head too. He cursed at pulled at his skin and hair, trying to find the stone and pull it out.

"It's useless. Just bear with the memories and you wouldn't need to suffer any unnecessary pain." Shizuka said as she stood over him, nudging his hand away after he fell to the ground. Sleep was overtaking him already and I watched as Luca fell asleep too.

"Damn you… Luca, wake up! Hey, Luca!" Natsume cried softly and his eyelids closed. A few seconds later, he and Luca were lying on Luca's bed, both were fast asleep.

"Now all we have to do is to wait for them to wake up and we can explain what's happening." I said as I collapsed on the chair in Luca's room. "Wake me up when the guys get up, 'k? I'm gonna get a few winks…" my voice slurred as I fell asleep.

~*~*~*~*~

"Mikan, Mikan-chan…" someone was shaking my shoulder. _Get away! I'm still sleeping! Don't disturb me! _I wanted to tell the person. **Baka baka baka!**

I felt my body flying in the air and came into contact with something solid and hard with a smack. That blow woke me up, along with the three bruises that the baka gun had caused.

"That hurt, Hotaru. Can't you be gentler with waking me up?" I grumbled, rubbing my head and dusting my clothes; my mind still half awake.

"Well, you didn't seem to want to wake up when we shook you earlier, so we had to go with the rough way." Shizuka said. I stood up and remembered that I was still in Luca's room. Natsume and Luca were already up and they were staring at me.

"What is the meaning of this?" Natsume's angry voice sounded, anger was etched on him face. "Why do you tell us now and not earlier?" His voice shook with anger and his eyes were blazing lines of fire at me. I shrugged.

"It's just like what you were shown. Hotaru and Shizuka probably told you what was going on. So are you going to cooperate or sulk?" I asked coolly and stretched. "If you want to know more, we might as well go to Hotaru's lab. It's more discreet there."

Natsume and Luca looked at each other and nodded.

Luca's POV

She had changed. It was not unexpected, but the way she changed was so much different than her original self! It was like she went _bad_ instead of good. Then again, I didn't know what had happened to her when she left two years ago. Natsume was furious; he liked—no, loved her but she didn't think of trusting him or telling him anything.

"It's not like that, Luca-pyon."

A soft murmur caught my attention. She could hear me? Oh, she had her mother's Alice and her brother's…. It would be reasonable…

The door closed as Natsume and I entered the lab and I caught sight of the pictures hung on the wall. They looked horribly familiar. I walked closer and inspected them, the horror on my face growing into embarrassment and anger as I recognized the pictures.

"Imai… What have you done?!" I shouted, my face turning beetroot and the pictures. Especially the one where I was wearing a skirt for the sake of Mikan! I thought I had destroyed every one of those! I turned and saw Hotaru with a wicked grin on her face and Shizuka trying not to laugh. Sakura- Mikan was smiling and Natsume was coming towards me.

"Natsume, she- she still has pictures of that incident and…!" I spluttered with horror as I stared with wide eyes at him.

"I know she still has them." Natsume told me emotionlessly as he looked at the wall and his eyes bulged at some of the pictures she had of him there. Natsume with a red face… Natsume with Youichi… Natsume in my body when that Soul Switch occurred… His eyes bulged with disbelief.

"Imai… When did you get all of these?" he asked in a cold voice, the temperature in the room starting to rise by several degrees. Everyone shuddered, except for Natsume and Mikan. Hotaru looked like she was enjoying this; Shizuka looked like she was going to laugh anytime soon.

"A long time ago. Your fans were supplying large amounts of money for these. It was a very good source of income." Hotaru replied as she smiled her trademark smile. Mikan's face had an amused look.

"Not only that, she still has many pictures in the computer, albums and secret places. Not only of you but Narumi, Misaki, Reo… Almost everyone in this Academy!" Mikan said, settling herself in a large armchair and hugging one of the cushions to her chest. "Now, do you want to hear my news or would you like to get damaged by Hotaru's new baka merchandise? I'm sure I saw a new cannon somewhere…" she said as she squeezed herself next to Mikan.

Natsume left the pictures unwillingly and we both sat on the couch that was violet, like Hotaru's eyes. _Wait, what am I thinking! _

Someone sniggered and I turned my face to see who it was, only to see Mikan clasping her hand over her mouth. When she saw me looking, she dropped her hand and widened her eyes innocently, "What's wrong, Luca-pyon?" Her tone mirrored the concerned tone that Mikan had always used on me when she thought that I was hiding something.

"No… Nothing." She couldn't have heard… wait, she had the mind-reading Alice didn't she? From what Shizuka and Hotaru told us, she might have every kind of Alice! Only that there were many different kinds of Alices around the world…

Mikan's POV

"Ok, so I'll start… with the latest news. The Elementary School Principal is head of the Z organization and the AAO. We have four members from the AAO, including ex-members; the ex-members are my mother, Shizuka, Tacoma and me. The still member is Shiki. Shiki's helping us gathering information from the AAO and Tacoma only tells us when the AAO are making a move on us." I told them, fiddling with my fingers. I hadn't talked to any of my classmates like this before… it was unsettling.

~*~*~*~*~

Luca's rabbit hopped onto me and I started, staring at it as it rubbed its soft fur against my arm. Then I stroked it and turned my attention back to the two boy audience. Both of them wore surprised expressions on their face.

"But… how? How can he do that and get away with it?" Luca stammered when I finished my part of the whole event. I shrugged.

"Technically, the Elementary School Principal only sees us as sources of money. We can get him money through being sold, getting precious items or helping out with his schemes." I told them, "However, there aren't any problems now, only that Shiki has been reporting about the Head's weird attitude. He locks himself up often and doesn't scheme about some other plan although the usual business continues."

"Not only that, the Principal had the courage to send us out of the Academy…" Natsume said, catching on. I nodded, "He's planning something for sure."

"The only people who know about this are me, Hotaru, Mikan, High School Principal, Yuka-san, Shiki, Tacoma, Jinno, Sakurano, Subaru, Bear and you two." Shizuka said, standing up and stretching, leaving the room. "_I _think that the Principal might be preparing for some kind of war because Tacoma told me that he's been importing large amounts of metal into the AAO warehouses."

Just then, Hotaru came back to the table holding a cup of coffee, "If the AAO has someone who can mould metal, then they may be making weapons or something." Then she checked the clipboard in her hand and stated, "This is a large amount of metal, so the AAO cannot be using it for anything simple. Besides, I've got news from the other organizations that alliances were made with the AAO and they are teaming together. Every kind of Anti-Alice organization is ordering large amounts of metal from all over the country. That's what my inventions caught on to."

I raised an eyebrow; Hotaru had once told me she hated coffee because it was bitter or something. It was surprising to see her drinking that stuff now. "So is it confirmed that they have set their sights on attacking the Academy now?" Natsume asked, Luca only seemed to be thinking deeply.

"Yes, it does seem so. Some of the other organizations are buying from the black markets in other countries… Guns and the usual black stuff…" Hotaru told them, yawning as she sat down in the space Shizuka left when she went to get a drink.

"But… how will the Principal get the authorization? Surely the Middle School and High School Principals will object, won't they?" Luca questioned anxiously, his eyebrows creasing as he thought. _I hoped he won't ask that…_

"It's obvious; the Elementary School Principal will send someone to kill them. An assassin from within the Academy, a D.A student since they are best in secret killings," Hotaru told him, glancing at me. Natsume's eyes widened as I hastily said, "They won't send you, Natsume. Persona knows that you're too soft for this."

Natsume's expression soured at my statement and he said coldly, "So why must we help you?"

"Won't you help us, Natsume? Your precious someone would want you to do it!" Shizuka said, coming back into the room. "Right, Mikan?" she winked at me. _That sneaky vixen!_

"Uh… Yeah…" I stammered, secretly embarrassed that she had hinted at it. "Anyway, be on your guard. I think it's time we let the whole class in on our plan, Hotaru… At least Narumi, Serina, Iinchou, Anna, Nonoko, Kokoroyomi, Sumire… The usual crowd," I tapped my finger against my chin, "Koko first and his friend."

"Having the mind-reader on our side will be good," Shizuka agreed as she set her glass of orange juice down and headed towards the door. "Come on, Luca, we'll go get Koko and the rest of the gang. How about you, Mikan?" she looked at me and I shook my head. "How about we tell the gang the whole story and you wear the original to class tomorrow? I think it's the perfect chance of seeing how many guys will fall for you!" She told me.

_That cunning… _Shizuka grinned at me and without waiting for me to say a word of objection, she chirped, "It's a deal, then!" Then she proceeded to pull Natsume and Luca along with her.

~*~*~*~*~

"No, Mikan-chan… You're supposed to wear that in two ponytails…"

"Fine! There, it's up. Now stop bothering me!"

"Mikan-chan~!"

"Get away from me, Shizuka!"

The classroom door flew open as someone ran into the classroom, her brown hair up in two ponytails.

"Why do we have to reach the class earlier than usual anyway?" I complained, scowling heavily at the smiling silver haired girl.

"Uh… Sakura-kun? I mean, Mikan-chan?" someone timidly asked and I turned to look at her, recognizing the pink haired girl.

"Anna-san, what're you doing here-"I spotted the rest of the crowd around Anna, "Shizuka…" I said menacingly, turning to look at my cousin. "So _this_ is the reason why you wanted me up early and with the memory stones…"

"You can't blame her, Mikan." Nonoko stepped forward, "We heard everything that has happened… Please let us help!" I crumbled, seeing that puppy-eyed look on her face.

"But this should be done in the night!" I protested, pulling out the big velvet bag of stones that Shizuka had told me to bring along as the gang was going to get them if I slept any longer.

"School starts at 8.30 am, so we can insert them in now! The memory recovering should take about one hour…" Shizuka said eagerly. I was doubtful about whether her plan would work… But anyway… it was a perfect chance.

I gestured to the people, "Line up."

~*~*~*~*~

The memory recovering process was shorter than I had expected; everyone cooperated and within forty-five minutes, they had awoken from their slumber. There was an unmistakable sense of excitement in the air.

"I can't believe that you dressed up as a guy, Mikan!" Sumire said, wrinkling her nose. I nodded my head absentmindedly as I watched everyone getting requited with their missing memories.

"Mikan-chan, is there something wrong?" Nonoko and Anna asked softly. I jumped; I hadn't heard them sneak up on me.

"What's wrong, Mikan-chan?" Yuu asked concernedly, the whole room's occupants were turning to look at me now.

"There's no use hiding, we know something's up." Tsubasa said, ruffling my hair unsuccessfully.

"You don't have to take everything upon your shoulders, Mikan…" Narumi sat beside me, pulling me into a hug. "Everyone's glad you've finally come back to us."

I could feel my eyes tearing up and escaping from their confines as I cried. The lost 'Mikan' had finally found her home, her family members… The burden in my heart was finally released.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

"Hey, have you heard?"

"I can't believe it!"

"Sakura Azumi is actually a girl?"

The whisperings of me being a girl spreaded over the whole Academy and the teachers who were not in the gang were surprised.

"Sakura-chan, stop day-dreaming; come on, let's go to the Central Town so we can buy some clothes for you!" Anna squealed as she tugged at my arm. Nonoko's eyes were shining with the same excitement; no wonder people always mistook them for twins.

"What are you doing?" Jinno's voice echoed from the other end of the corridor, he stood outside the staffroom, glaring at us. "If it's about the girl going to Central Town, it's strictly prohibited!"

Nonoko and Anna both made noises of protest, "But look at her! Her fashion sense is worse than a slug's! Her hair that could be shiny… Please, Jinno-sensei?" They both looked at Jinno pleadingly and I almost laughed at the scene.

"Absolutely not," Jinno replied haughtily, Narumi who was just exiting the staffroom heard this and Anna and Nonoko were soon begging on their knees in front of the two teachers. Narumi laughed nervously when he spotted Hotaru hovering near me with a bulging envelope in her arms.

"I see no harm in letting Sakura-chan off, Jinno-sensei…" Narumi said, trying to help Nonoko and Anna while eyeing Hotaru.

"She can go on one condition: that her partner goes with her too." Jinno said somewhat smugly. Was this his way of making sure I was safe and protected?

Not going to happen.

That was **so **not going to happen with Anna and Nonoko here… Not to mention, Hotaru too. All three had wicked gleams in their eyes and they dragged me to the bus where we were sent to the Central Town.

"This will fit you nicely, Sakura-chan!"

"This one too… Oh, nice match, Imai-chan. That blouse looks very cute on her…"

"Wow, look at all this! You girls will kill Sakura-chan's wallet with that much shopping!" Misaki sounded awed as she stepped into the big dressing room. Her eyes examined every inch of the dressing room and watched the scene before her eyes: Mikan, being the model of the three girls who were playing some kind of dressing game.

"Oh yeah, I saw Natsume and Luca-pyon out there. Why are they sitting in the café waiting for four of you anyway?" Misaki questioned, curious. "Tsubasa's gone to accompany the poor boys who were claiming they saw a devil or somethin'." Misaki said.

Nonoko and Anna grinned, "Oh, it's probably just their active imagination!" they chorused. _How could these two girls get that deadly in such a short period of 2 years?_ I thought to myself in horror, staring at both of them. "Sakura-chan, stop looking at them and get dressed!" Sumire's sharp voice snapped as she pushed a pile of clothes to me.

_Oh boy, I was so dead. _I rolled my eyed and Misaki left the room, Nonoko and Anna turned back to me with identical devil grins…

"Have you got the information I wanted?"

"Yeah, how's your side going?" A rustle of paper as documents are handed over.

"Good. The Principal has noticed our searching for organizations against the Academy. He's distracted from the moving of goods to overseas: our important cargo."

"What, then what about that boy at the Academy? And his mother?"

"They've left. All that is left are decoys to trick the Principal. We won't let him near the goods, that's for sure!"

"Really? That's an impressive plan you've carried out."

The phone rings impatiently and the woman picks it up, her wedding ring glinting on her finger. She listens to the voices and the conversation ends without her saying anything.

"Oh, sorry, I have to leave now. My other clients are yelling for me."

The woman leaves the quiet room and deactivates the disguise once she is out of sight. 'Wedding ring, indeed.'

"Sakura," the sharp tone saying my name made me turn around, I would recognize that voice _anywhere. _

"Hotaru, save me from these monsters!" I threw myself into Hotaru's arms.

We were still in the dressing room and Hotaru was called to come over when the girls had found something interesting that fitted me. Hotaru hurried over from an appointment that was in the Central Town, it had to do with the Resistance of the Elementary Principal; also called REP by the gang.

"It looks pretty good on you, Sakura-chan. Not bad, Nonoko, Anna, Sumire. She'll really be a star now…" Hotaru said as she observed the outfit I was wearing. The said beamed and they proceeded to take all the clothing and head out of the room.

"Come on, Sakura-chan! We're going to buy all these for you!" Anna chirped and Hotaru pulled me out too. The cashier gaped when she saw the pile of clothes but she counted the total amount and swiped the card that I had been given as a special star.

"Good heavens, Misaki, are you expecting all three of us to help her carry _that_?" Tsubasa cried as he stared at the mountain of clothes. I smiled and tugged on his sleeve gingerly, "It's best not to complain." I warned him. He found out when he saw the three, now five faces.

"Hello~ Everyone~!" Narumi sang as he danced into class with a swimming outfit on. "The Sports Festival is arriving now, so I expect you to be working hard for it!"

Cheers erupted from my classmates as they set to discussing about the Festival. Red Team would be Special Abilities and Latent Abilities, White Team would be Technical Abilities and Somatic Abilities while Dangerous Abilities would be able to choose whichever team they wanted to be in.

I was in Dangerous Abilities, but my Nullification was Special Abilities; so I was in the Red Team. Hotaru was in the other team and Shizuka was with her too. I was beginning to think that it was bad that I was in the Red Team because every time Hotaru and Shizuka met me outside the room we were using for discussing the tactics for the Festival; there would always be a cold gust of air. Most likely it was due to Hotaru and Subaru's cold relationship.

Luna had started working on her plan, Hotaru told me. She was using her Alice on most of the members of the White Team, so that was the reason why there were rumors coming from the Technical and Somatic that I was a cheater who had threatened the Principal to get such a special position within the school. Some members of the Latent were beginning to believe the rumors and fell under her 'rule' but the Special always stood by my side.

"Azumi, we'll be using your Alices in the last race, so make sure you don't use your Alice until then." Tono said as he got back from discussing with the others. Jinno and Subaru were busy teaming up as they wrote their plans down on the whiteboard.

"Yes… I understand. What about the cheering competition?" I asked curiously. Not like I was going to join in the cheering anyway, I had enough of 'fun' and anyways, it would only make me a target for the Elementary School Principal should he spot me enjoying myself.

"Go, White team, go!"

It was the day of the Sports Festival already and so far, the White Team was in the lead. I yawned. Although I wanted to play and have fun too, there was a certain shrimp who was the dictator of the D.A. class… Oh, throw in a Death Alice user and you've got the dangerous pair.

"Go, Jinno-sensei!" Tsubasa shouted as he laughed. Oops, I probably should be paying attention to the Festival or I'll miss out on something. I turned to face the field and was greeted by the sight of Jinno who had just undergone an outfit transformation. Jinno was currently trapped in a frog costume that only allowed him to move about when he attempted to jump.

I scoffed at the ridiculous outfit and Jinno glared at everyone who was laughing before moving forward, spurred by Tsubasa's shout.

"**And that's Jinno-sensei in the frog costume for you! Oh, the next contestant's going in! I wonder what it will be this time…"**

I leaned against the railing and tuned out the commentator's voice. There would be the cheerleading competition after this race and I would be staying on the ground. Talking about which, there was also another reason why they wanted me on the ground: to watch out for Luna.

We found 3 of our team mates that had been affected by her Alice. Although I did not use my Stealing Alice, I would definitely be watching out, especially if Luna was going to make one of them drop from the sky. I would not forgive her for her antics. Oh yes, I nearly forgot; why she was doing this? Because I had a little 'accident' with her and ever since then, she has wanted to place me in the Elementary School Principal's bad books.

Heh, it wasn't like I wasn't on his hunting list anyway. After all, he's still hunting for the Stealing Alice and assumes I have the Nullification and Teleportation Alices. Plus, due to the striking resemblance I bear to Mother, he suspects me of having the Stealing Alice too.

"Get ready… 1… 2… 3… Lift!" Jinno whispered and the Alice users concentrated hard, doing the usual moves that they practiced during the rehearsal. I watched as they lifted all my friends up into the air. If there was something to happen and make a big influence, it would be at this particular event. I glanced over at the person next to me, black mark on his neck; bingo.

In the whole group, only he should be infected by Luna's Alice. Well, the only one that needed watching anyway. I sighed; I had already informed Tono of my plan and watch. All now left to do was to support his effort in this.

I activated the Alice that I had copied from the boy and noticed the 1st part of my star darken. I kept an eye on Luna who was watching our performance although concentrating on maintaining the performance was a moderately difficult feat for me.

Luna's gaze fell on me and she smirked. Immediately, I noticed that the person standing next to me… what was his name? Hayu-or-something? Anyway, I noticed that he had loosened his control considerably. I was caught a little unaware; who knew Luna would really attempt on destroying the Red team's performance?

Sakurano who was at the opposite side of the field started forward but stopped when he saw that there was no danger imminent to those in the air, he took a step back and frowned. Oh right, I had not notified him of this suspicion I had, so naturally his Intuition Alice would warn him.

"Sakura, are you hanging on there?" Jinno hissed from behind me, I managed a nod and gritted my teeth. Holding people in the air with Alice was alright, but this much…! Luna had made this Hayu-something forget about the task at hand! Now he was focusing on something she fed through her mark and he was keeping up the pretense of helping out with the performance!

Just as our performance ended, I lowered the team mates back to the ground and strolled off as I saw Hayu-something snap out of his reverie and glanced from side to side. He probably was wondering why he wasn't doing anything.

I sought for Luna through the crowds and finally spotted her hanging by Natsume. She had an angelic smile on her face, but her eyes were filled with hatred. I smirked; she must be angry that her plans failed. It was just too bad.

The rest of the Festival passed uneventfully, well, that was until the last event where I was supposed to participate in.

~*~*~*~*~* [The events are the same as what happened in the manga. Well, roughly the same.]

"Tsubasa, head for Luna. I'm tired of seeing her control everyone." I whispered in Tsubasa's ear and he changed direction, running towards Luna. I had one try left, so I was going to use it to steal Luna's alice; so that she would not commit such crimes again.

I reached out for Luna and she stopped me, "What are you doing, Azumi? You do know that the Principal is watching us!" she hissed under her breath, glaring at me. _She isn't going to destroy my life. Not any more, _I chanted in my head, blocking her voice out.

_There is someone in the world that needs your Alice. _

_The Elementary School Principal still needs her,_ I reminded myself, I have to be gentler with her. I couldn't risk destroying his life.

Her hands were around my wrists; a perfect chance to get her Alice. I stole most of it and felt the growing stone in my clenched hand increase in size. When I had most of her Alice in my palm, I pulled my hand free and grabbed the star above her head. All these had occurred within a span of three minutes.

"**Red Team wins!"**

The commentator roared as the Red team screamed and shouted. Tsubasa pulled me down and ruffled my hair, laughing. We had won the Sports Festival!

I felt a wave of elation but kept it down and hit Tsubasa's hand aside in an act of coolness. "Don't touch me, Shadow idiot." I said coldly and walked pass him. The commentator announced the winner again and by now I wanted to be as far as I could from Luna. She would not be pleased.

I knew that I would hear a shriek of horror when Luna finds out that she could not use her Alice to her usual extent.

"Hey, Sakura, that was nice of you to snatch the General's star!" Tono shouted as he tried to squeeze through the crowd that was gathering around me. His gaze, however, asked a different question: what did you do?

I sent him a small smile. Then, I heard a loud scream before the crowd lapsed into chaos.

"Run!"

"There's an invasion!"

Gunshots. Everyone was running away. The Principals had already disappeared. I caught Natsume's eye and we both started running to the source of commotion.

"Will it be alright?" I shouted to Natsume.

He yelled back, "They already gave orders!"

Did they? Whatever.

I tore the star sticker off so that it wouldn't hinder my movements. "Where is it?" I kept my voice above the loud screams and yells the crowd were giving off as they pushed us here and there. "Central Division!"

I grabbed his hand and teleported us there. "It's the Z organization and the AAO." Natsume said as we appeared, gunshots now replaced the screams of terror.

"What are you kids doing here—" A guard caught sight of us, but before he could finish his question, he was shot.

"Looks like there are some rats hanging around here, Shiki. They send kids after us! How ridiculous."

_Kids…? _Those rude bastards call us kids when they can't even defeat us?

"Hyuuga, Azumi, what are you doing? Get them!" Hayate hissed as he crept up from behind the two of them.

I rolled my eyes, "Natsume, you get them, I'll cover you." Natsume nodded and sent a burst of fire after Hayate's wind Alice.

Hayate's Alice was a useful one too. Wind was useful when there was any kind of obstruction, for example dust clouds, and would help in flying.

"Shido, they're just kids. There's no need to kill them." I heard his partner murmur. What was Shiki doing here? Well, I just hope that he has his Barrier Alice up.

"Hayate, Natsume and I will handle this side. Why don't you go and help the rest out?" I whispered to Hayate and he nodded, slinking off. But Shido saw the bushes move and in the next moment he was shooting bullets into the bush.

Most of them missed us, but one grazed my cheek and I held Natsume's hand tightly as I teleported out of the bush and reappeared behind Shido.

"Don't move," I said as I pressed my hand to Shido's back, "Or I'll waste your body away with the Death Alice."

Shido stiffened, "Shiki!" he appealed to his partner and Shiki looked at the man coldly, making no move to help Shido.

I looked at the Alice stone in my hand and concentrated on it, pushing a small bit into Shido and he went limp. I watched as a small black mark appeared on his neck and dropped my hand. "Hey, Shiki, what brings you here?" I asked casually.

"I did not know that they had planned this. The Boss announced that we were going to invade today, though I wasn't notified until earlier. I suspect that they are starting to have suspicions about my loyalty and every movement I make is being tracked." Shiki said.

I frowned, "But you aren't part of them. Since you joined with Mother and made a deal with them, you aren't a part of Z. That's why they would not tell you that much. Tacoma should be able to get information from them." I mused.

"He's already put down for treachery. Although they do not know where he is, they've put a death sentence for him." Shiki replied. Oh. "I'll be leaving the AAO too," Shiki continued, earning a surprised look from me.

"I already know that they are going to kick up a war. So I figured that I would get out from their organization and head off to find ex-students of the Academy and get their help." Shiki said.

I nodded, "You know where Mother is?" I asked him.

He nodded, "Get going," he told me as he ran off.

"Come on, Natsume, let's hurry." I tugged at him and ran to get the other invaders with Shido hobbling behind me. Many people who saw Shido obeying our orders were surprised.

"Shido, what are you doing? Can't you see those two brats behind you?"

"He's under their control!"

Shido shot at the invaders as I nullified all the Alice users' Alice. In a short instance, all of them were down and most were dead. At least, those who couldn't provide us useful information.

"Stop," someone grabbed me and pressed a sharp knife to my neck. "Don't move, or she dies."

The guards and the D.A group stopped in their tracks. The remaining survivors immediately took our side down. "Azumi…" I could hear Hayate growling.

"You, little doll, unless you don't want to die, go and kill all of your friends lying on the ground," my captor dragged me over to the nearest one, his knife pricking a line of blood. I frowned, _if I use my Alice here, the Elementary School Principal will suspect me…_

I remembered the Voice Pheromone Alice I had copied from Reo; it would be of use to my situation. I sent a silent flash of Nullification and kept it in place. "Wrong move, little girl," my captor snarled as he started to dig the knife into my neck.

"**Stop."** I infused my voice with the Pheromone Alice. His hand stopped and dropped the knife as he collapsed to the ground. I looked at my surroundings, the invaders were down and my 'friends' were still struggling to recover.

"**You will forget that I used this Alice and the invaders shall submit to our security. Remember nothing of this." **I commanded, forcing my will upon them and they all obediently submitted. I collapsed to the ground after that; so that I would not be the odd one out.

After using so much power for maintaining my Alices, I felt worn out. A migraine was beginning and all I wanted to do was go to sleep.

In no time at all, the reinforcements had arrived, but we had already finished off most of them. All that was left now was some stragglers and of course, the willing group in our control.

I could manage my way back to my room. I had to have Natsume support me back to our dormitory and we separated outside our rooms although he gave me a concerned look when he entered his room. I collapsed on my bed, still dressed and fell asleep.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

"Mikan, Mikan," someone shook my shoulder urgently. "Wake up, it's time for school!"

My eyelids fluttered open and then they closed again, "Go away," I groaned, turning my face into my pillow. It wouldn't matter if I skipped a day of school, would it?

"It's already afternoon, Mikan," another person said and I heard a click. I opened my eyes again and saw a Baka cannon aimed at my head. "Get that away from me!" I cried as I jumped off the bed and rolled onto the floor.

"Ouch, what are you doing, Hotaru, Nonoko, Anna?" I yawned; stretching my arms and legs and hearing my joints crack a little.

"Oh, come on Mikan, did you think it would be a school day after that invasion yesterday? We're here today to give you a full makeover treatment!" Nonoko cried and Anna pulled me to my feet. "Wha-?" I still hadn't caught on to the bad situation I was in.

"Come on; let's head over to Hotaru's room!" Anna squealed as she dragged me out with Nonoko and Hotaru following behind. "Sumire, we've got her!" the trio cried to Sumire who was standing guard outside my door.

_What is going on…? Oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no… Please don't let it be another make up session! _I cried in my head as I figured their plans for me. Hotaru glanced back and grinned evilly as she unlocked her room. Nonoko, Anna and Sumire followed suit, all of them had identical evil grins…

I gulped, feeling goose bumps breaking out on my skin. _This isn't good…_

"Hotaru, Hotaru, open the door," An insistent banging on the door woke me up. _What happened? _

I frowned and looked at my surroundings. _Wait a minute; this is Hotaru's room… Why am I here! _I screamed in my mind, those four just couldn't help themselves; they just had to dress me up! Didn't I tell them that I found dressing up troublesome?

I looked down at the clothes I was wearing, a red skirt, black long sleeved shirt and a red tie. My hair was twisted into a ponytail. _Very nice, Nonoko, Anna, Hotaru, Sumire… _I silently seethed.

"Anyone in there… Oi!" I jumped a little; that was Tsubasa's voice… Why was he outside Hotaru's room? Why wasn't Hotaru here? Come to think of it, it was she who knocked me out when Nonoko opened the door to her room.

"Imai, open the door! Where's Sakura?" That was Luca. If Luca was here, then Natsume should be with him.

"Can't you get in, Sakurano-sempai?" Sakurano was here?

"There's something in there that doesn't allow me to get in. Some kind of Nullification, I suppose," Sakurano told Luca.

"What are you doing outside my room?" Oh, Hotaru had returned. That meant Nonoko, Anna and Sumire would be with her.

"Natsume-sama!" _Yup, Sumire is definitely with Hotaru,_ I thought as a long bang and crash resounded in the hallway outside.

"Hag," Natsume said, I suppose he must be throwing her a glare.

"Where is Azumi Sakura?" Subaru asked as I heard the door unlock. I quickly scrambled up from the bed and tidied it, ran to the sofa and sat down on it just as the door opened and Hotaru replied, "She's in here."

"Hotaru, what's up with that loud ruckus? Why am I dressed like this?" I asked, plastering an angry expression on my face as I yawned. Hotaru looked at me before she gestured to Nonoko and Anna.

"We went shopping!" Nonoko cried, running towards me and grasping my arm.

"Yes, but since you were asleep, Mikan, we couldn't bring you along. But we did get a lot of outfits for you!" Anna cried as she grabbed my other arm and Sumire appeared from behind them with numerous shopping bags in her arms.

"Don't worry, Mikan, we bought lots of outfits!" She squealed as the trio dragged me to Hotaru's toilet.

"Let go of me!" I yelled as they pulled me in and the toilet door closed. The last thing I ever saw before the clothes were the surprised expressions of Natsume, Luca, Subaru, Tsubasa and Sakurano.

"Look at how cute she is!"

I opened my eyes to the squeals of Nonoko and Anna, and then I groaned and rolled over. "Go away…" I moaned.

Yesterday's usage of Alices had rendered me exhausted. I was now getting a migraine because of that invasion. A good night of sleep was wasted when Nonoko, Anna and Hotaru woke me up. I continued to slumber. After a couple of hours, someone's voice roused me from my sleep.

"Mikan, wake up," …this voice…

"Shiki?" I shot upright, startled by his appearance. "What are you doing here?" I asked him, swinging my legs off the bed. Nonoko, Sumire and Anna had all fallen asleep on the bed, they were covered by a blanket and Hotaru had sat up next to me.

"You're needed; the High School Principal needs to talk to you." Shiki whispered to me, Hotaru rubbed her eyes and pressed a button that had appeared mysteriously on her headboard. "Let's get going," she whispered back and climbed off the bed.

Shiki covered my hand and Hotaru's hand and teleported us out of the room.

"Mikan, Mikan," someone enveloped me in a hug as soon as we landed. Mother… her scent flooded my senses and I hugged her back.

"Mikan!" It was Narumi-sensei, what was he doing here? I let go of Mother and stood up.

Subaru and Sakurano were already there, Jinno, Narumi, Mother, Shiki… and Uncle.

"The AAO is making their move on the Academy." Mother told me as she helped Hotaru up. "We're going to make our plans for the attack now."

Mother bought me to sit on one of the chairs in the office and everyone followed suit.

"Yesterday's attack and Shiki not being notified has already told us that the AAO is suspecting Shiki of being a traitor and that they are going for the final attack." Mother told me.

"Final attack?" Hotaru asked, seating down beside me.

"The final attack that they will make; the last attack they will make on us. This means that AAO is preparing for war against the Academy." Mother told her as she clasped her hands around mine.

"Mikan, we're going to protect the Academy. Do you remember the plans we made while you were still back at the AAO?" Mother asked me, I nodded.

"That we would protect the Academy and flush out the Elementary School Principal? Of course," I said, "We would also change the rules in this Academy so as to stop any objection party or whatsoever. We would also have to increase security and treat the children better."

Mother nodded, "We're going to prepare for that step of that plan now. Are you ready?" she asked me.

I sighed and nodded back to her. "How are we going to get information of their movements?" I asked her and Mother looked at Shiki.

"Shiki isn't in the AAO anymore… so we have to depend on you, Hotaru-chan. I'm sorry." Mother looked at Hotaru apologetically. Hotaru waved her apology aside, "I have information." Hotaru told everyone and drew a small package out from her pocket.

She pulled a small remote control out of her pocket and pressed one of the buttons. A small compartment appeared out of the office's walls and opened automatically. Document after document and file after file spilled out of the compartment. I gaped at her, "A new invention?"

Hotaru nodded and she proceeded to pick the papers and files up. "These are the information I managed to get from all companies and groups that are resisting the Academy. Their records and letters to other companies…"

Everyone in the room was staring at her in surprise, even Subaru. Finally, Sakurano cleared his throat and went forward to help Hotaru. They piled the information up in the room and placed it at one side.

"However, if we're going against the AAO, we'll need manpower. We can't just fight against the Elementary School Principal and the AAO without anyone fighting with us." Uncle finally said. "What do you think about it?"

"Can't we get the students to help us?" Shiki asked, Uncle, Narumi and Jinno frowned.

"We don't want to endanger their lives…" Uncle said hesitantly.

"I think it's a good idea." Hotaru said and I agreed with her. Mother thought about it and said, "It is a good idea, but will it damage the children?"

After much discussion on the subject, it was finally decided that they would try to persuade the ex-students would join forces with them. They would also try to coax the students to help them.

"There's no doubt that our friends will help us." Hotaru said as she stood up. "Come on, Mikan, let's get back. School's going to start soon."

I nodded and grasped her hand, "We're going now. Goodbye."

"…so it's like that." I whispered to our small group of friends in the classroom. We had decided to gather everyone we trusted and tell them the latest news. "We'll help you!" Tsubasa exclaimed in a low voice.

"Yeah, after all, we're friends, aren't we?" Iinchou said, smiling at me. I smiled back, everyone was nodding their heads.

"Great! Thanks, everyone. Hotaru, where are the devices that we made?" I asked the sleepy Hotaru beside me. We had spent the whole night making those devices and had carved a special insignia on them.

Hotaru bought out a small black box and everyone leaned closer, wondering what was in the box. Hotaru opened the box and revealed a batch of red and blue badges. Each had a name etched on it and there was an insignia of G.A on them.

Hotaru handed everyone one badge and I spoke, "These badges have a special function. They can send any news of you or any information to anyone in our circle. See, Hotaru and I have two badges that will receive the information and send it to everyone.

There's a small speaker on the badge that will record the information you find and send it to Hotaru and me; it will appear on the screen in words and we'll send it to everyone else. If there are any warnings or rumors or news that we find relevant to our mission, we'll send it to you."

"Oh yes, you should try sending messages to our badges. I need to know whether all the badges are working properly." Hotaru said as she yawned.

Everyone looked at their badges and murmuring broke out, everyone testing their badges. My badge vibrated as I received their messages. I looked at its small screen and saw all their names on it. Good.

"Fine, they're all working. Let's get going." Hotaru said as she stood up and left the classroom. "We'll be late with our meeting, Mikan!"

I caught up with Hotaru and waved to my friends as we closed the door behind us. "Are we going to see Shirogane Yukiko, Hotaru?"

[A/N Shirogane Yukiko is a character from Feathers of an Angel. I'm just using the name although the character's not the same. I have WinglessDream's permission for this…]

"Yes, she's a good friend of mine." Was Hotaru's short reply as she yawned again, "Use that disguise ring I gave you, Sakura."

"Ok," I pushed the button on the ring and instantly transformed to Imai Sakura. "You don't trust Yukiko, Hotaru?" I asked the girl who was boarding the bus.

"No, I trust Yukiko." Hotaru assured me, lowering her voice as we got on the bus. I stared at her until she gave in, "I just don't trust who she's with."

Who would come with Yukiko? I met Yukiko when I was in the AAO. She was a part of Black Halloween, an organization that resisted the Academy, second to the AAO. Yuki was a sweet girl, she was blind though, but her Alice was aplenty useful.

Other than Yuki, who was the representative of their assassination group, I hadn't met anyone else. I heard that the head of the Black Halloween was a person who flirted with girls. He was said to be a merciless person who tortured his prisoners for information.

I fingered the blue stone in my pocket; it was Yuki's Alice stone. She had given it to me the day she left the AAO to return to the Black Halloween. I had a suspicion that she had seen my future.

Hotaru bought me to a small café that sold small cakes, bread and tea. She ordered strawberry shortcake and sat down beside me, holding two cups of cappuccino. She handed one to me and I accepted the cup, blowing gently on the surface before taking a sip.

The hot liquid burned my tongue but warmed my stomach. Hotaru and I sat in silence before I asked her, "Hotaru, who is the person Yuki's coming with?"

Hotaru frowned, "Someone called Kisaragi. You're here as my assistant, so you don't need to say anything unless necessary."

She fell silent as the waitress bought our cake over. I took a bite of the cake as Hotaru drank her cappuccino and looked at her watch.

"They should be here by now…" Hotaru mumbled as she took her laptop out of her bag. She typed something into the device and pushed it to me. "Look at this."

I peered at the bright screen of the computer, my eyes scanning the information that Hotaru had collected about the Black Halloween. "Kisaragi and Yukiko are the two most dangerous members…"

I sat back, "Huh, is that so…"

"Is that all that you gathered? What a pitiful data resource centre you have, Miss Imai." Someone said, drawing out a seat beside us. My head jerked up and I focused on the speaker. His features matched the picture in Hotaru's computer…

"Kisaragi-san, it's nice to meet you." Hotaru said as she turned her laptop off. "Yukiko-san, it's a pleasure to see you again."

The two sat down at the table, Kisaragi was smirking and the other had an indifferent face. "Good to see you again, Hotaru," she replied. I looked at the two members of Black Halloween; Yukiko was the same as ever, she had a mask on over her expressions as she talked to us. Kisaragi was a different matter; he flirted with us openly and drank wine.

He provided information readily when Hotaru asked and supplied some questions he had of the Academy. Needless to say, everything Hotaru told him was a lie. I had no doubt that they were telling us lies too.

Yukiko had kept silent throughout the whole conversation, her eyes fixed on something else other than the present. I had used the Mind-reading Alice to probe her mind and was greeted by a torrent of images. I saw my mother, Hotaru and myself, everyone fighting and great chaos. There was no doubt that she was looking into the future.

_Yukiko-chan, that won't do, _I thought, _what a naughty little girl you are…_

I used my Nullification to stop her from finding out more about us but let the last image flash through her mind. Yuki, who had previously tucked her head into her chest, immediately raised her head in a sudden movement.

I smiled silently as I read the look on confusion on her face as she attempted to use her Alice. "Um… Kisaragi-san…?" Yuki's hands scrabbled nervously for a second before she latched on to Kisargai's sleeve. "I… I think it's time to go." She said shakily. Kisaragi shot her an exasperated look before he turned a charming smile on Hotaru and me.

"Ladies, I'm afraid business calls me and my partner. Good day to you," he said politely, blowing a kiss at Hotaru. Yuki stood up and followed the man as he left the café. I rolled my eyes, "Good grief, Hotaru, that guy is a flirt! I don't want to see him ever again! I don't know how you can stand him, though."

Hotaru smiled at me, "He provided a lot of useful information though."

_Did he? I hadn't noticed. _I shrugged, "If you say so, Hotaru." I replied and she stood up.

"Leaving so soon? Usually you would stay for a little longer to sell some stuff." I said, surprised at her sudden movement. Hotaru glared at me, yawning. I got the sign. "Fine, fine, I'll stay here for a little longer while you go take a nap." I said, waving my hand like I was dismissing her. Hotaru glared daggers at me before she left.

I got up and left the café, planning to find Yuki and Kisaragi. Besides, I wanted to see what their reactions were on Yuki's Alice. I looked at the small tracker in my palm; I had stuck a sticker on Yuki when she was not noticing and that sticker contained a device that enabled me to keep track of her. She was currently in a small alley not far away. I hurriedly made my way there.

"What do you mean, 'I couldn't see anything'?" an outraged voice sounded as I neared the deserted area.

"Something was blocking or rather, cancelling out my Alice." A gentle voice trembled. There was loud sound of a slap and a thump as someone fell down.

"Don't lie! I know that girl; Hotaru Imai is one of your 'friends'. Are you planning to destroy the Black Halloween because of her?" the person yelled. This should be Kisaragi and the other, Yukiko. _Interesting conversation happening here… _I thought as I turned my badge on.

"Unless… If you're telling the truth, then it might be the Barrier Alice or the Nullification Alice. People who have Barrier Alices are common, but Nullification… only one person has it and it's that girl." Kisaragi said as he paused.

"She must be involved with that Imai Hotaru. This means that I cannot trust Imai now, we'll have to be on our guard, Yukiko-chan," Kisaragi muttered, "Regardless whether she is involved with that girl or not, we have to watch out for her movements."

"Yes, Kisaragi-sama," a low husky voice replied and I smelt the tang of fear. Kisaragi laughed, "Good girl, Yukiko. Now you stay here while I go and find some information about the Academy and check whether that Imai was telling me the truth. Remember, if any strangers find you, kill them."

"Yes, Kisaragi-sama," the low voice had steadied a little. There was a flutter of cloth and I quickly hid myself with an Invisibility Alice. Kisaragi emerged from the shadows of the alley and walked past me, disappearing into the crowd.

I pressed a button on my badge and stored the conversation away before slipping into the alley. I let down my Invisibility Alice.

"Yukiko-chan…" I called out softly. Immediately, I felt a cold sharp point pressed to my neck. "You're the person who was with Hotaru-chan just now. Why did you follow me? Who are you?" a cold voice said.

"There, there, Yuki-chan, no need to get so upset after that imbecile slapped you." I said comfortingly. I could smell the surprise coming of her in waves before I told her, "I'm Mikan."


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

"Mikan-chan?" the cold point was quickly removed from my throat and Yuki grasped me by the arms tightly with a sudden move, "It's really you?"

"Yes," I told her, "Now let's get you out of here and away from the Black Halloween."

She paused and I faltered, "Yuki, you're coming with me, aren't you?" I asked her softly. She must want to get rid of the Black Halloween! Besides, they were bad for her!

Yuki's face had an expression of uncertainty and her perfect features were twisted in a small frown as she pondered about something.

"Yes, but…" Yuki hesitated, "I can't just _leave_… I mean, they would come after me!"

I narrowed my eyes; Yuki wasn't spilling anything, judging from that clam face she was putting on. This was suspicious; what would draw Yuki in so much that she didn't want to leave the Black Halloween?

"I… I can't leave Kisaragi-sama," she murmured to herself, like she was convincing herself not to go with me. _Kisaragi-__**sama**_… what did that guy do to her that she would refuse to come with me? I knew that Yuki wanted to escape the Black Halloween ever since I met her. She had a pair of chains on her wrist when I first bumped into her; the guards with her had told me that she had attempted to escape the Black Halloween ever since she was brought in.

"Why can't you leave him?" I said as kindly as I could and folded my legs under me. _Kisaragi should be gone for quite a bit if he was going to find another person for information about the Academy. Still, I should inform Hotaru on my current position… Maybe after this…_

"He… he said if I followed his orders, I would be left alone pretty soon…" Yuki stammered, "He promised me… He also said he would leave you alone if I agreed…"

She was lying.

Her blank blue eyes were filled with terror. Kisaragi was a cruel person, one not to be trifled with… I had never seen Yuki terrified before. Her appearance when I was still in the AAO flashed into my mind as I compared her with the girl in front of me.

The Yuki I had met in AAO had a determination that astounded me and she had short blonde hair. She always wore some kind of horrible fashion clothing just to annoy the superiors. She really hated the Black Halloween and she thought of every kind of prank to destroy their plans. That was before Kisaragi came.

I heard that a few months after Yukiko and I met, someone called Kisaragi took over as the head of Black Halloween. Based on the news Mother and I had received, Kisaragi was one of their top assassins and everyone thought he was suited for the position since his plans always surpassed those lousy ones their ex-boss always made up. Also, that reaction Yuki had in the café back there was strangely docile. Kisaragi must have done something to her.

"So there was a little rat after all…"

I heard a click as something pressed to the back of my head. Kisaragi… He had been faster than I thought… There was a smell of gunpowder and blood that clung to him and I heard a shifting of clothes. "Good work, Yukiko. You caught the assistant of Imai-san. But I wonder… why didn't you finish her off?"

Yuki whimpered and pressed her hands to her mouth. There was something strange about Yuki, she would never do this. An assassin afraid of blood and death? Or was she afraid of Kisaragi behind me?

"Never mind, at least we'll have some useful information now… The latest hadn't been too cooperative and I had to still him…" Kisaragi uttered. "Speak, why you are here or…" he nudged the gun against my head.

I shut my eyes, aware that the silence was stretching. If he was going to ask this, he had no intention of asking Yuki to use her Alice. I could just slip away silently with the Teleportation Alice…

_No! Yuki has to come with me too, I can't bear to think of what Kisaragi would do if he still had her…_

I opened my eyes again and swept my eyes around the alley. Nothing but trash and bins… Yuki was still grasping my arm, but her grip had loosened. If I had a grip on her, I could probably teleport both of us out.

"Not answering? Fine, I'll send you to your death now. Or we could always torture you for the information…" Kisaragi mused to himself. I touched the soft fabric of Yuki's clothes with the tips of my fingers.

_One…_

"I…"

_Two…_

"Oh? You decided to help us then?"

_Three!_

"Go to hell, you bastard!" I spat at him and Yuki and I were gone.

We appeared in another alleyway of the town, far away from where Kisaragi was. Yukiko collapsed onto the floor and started hitting the concrete with her dagger in a blind rage. I could tell that she was pretending that the floor was Kisaragi and that she was seriously pissed with him.

When she finally stopped, she stood up and told me, "Thank you so much, Mikan. I thought I was going to kill that man if I stayed with him for another moment!"

I laughed, "Don't mention it, Yuki. So, do you want to come with me to the Academy? I can sneak you in… and the revolution from the other organizations will begin in three days, just for your information."

"Of course I'll join you! You've been my best friend ever since we met and I hate the Black Halloween, so I might just as well join you." Yuki told me. "By the way, how am I going to get in?"

"I've got an Invisibility Alice here that could help." I informed her, "Just follow me and try not to bump into anyone, ok?"

She nodded, "Roger that."

The air shimmered and she was gone. "Ok, don't make any noise and don't talk. Follow me."

I led the way out of the alleyway. Yuki's footsteps were so silent. If I had been someone else, I would not know that someone was following me. But I'm not someone else, of course.

Hotaru had already returned to the dormitories to talk with our classmates and I knew that Mother was putting the rest of the plan into action. She would rally the high school and middle school students, by sneaking in as a teacher and she would single out those who would support the elementary school principal.

Well, thanks to the Invisibility Alice, I managed to sneak Yuki into the dormitories and into Hotaru's room. Needless to say, Hotaru was surprised but not shocked. She managed to procure a room for Yuki and that was that.

"So you're from Black Halloween?" Mother leaned back into the couch. "Shirogane Yukiko, the girl Mikan's been telling me about since she entered Black Halloween around two years ago?"

"Yes… I am Yukiko." Yuki answered, looking slightly nervous. "I decided to leave Black Halloween and join Mikan."

Mother nodded. "It's not going to be easy, this time."

"I know. But Mikan is my friend, I owe her this. Besides, I've never really liked my work with the Black Halloween, so it's alright." Yuki told her. "And I've got some information that you can use."

"Are you sure?" Hotaru asked, "Kisaragi would most likely change the details of whatever plans he made when he gets back to Black Halloween."

Yuki nodded her head. "But he can't get the other organizations to change their plans, right?"

I stared at her in surprise, "You eavesdropped on the other organizations?" I asked incredulously.

"Let's make that 'I took a quick look ahead and remembered those that would be necessary for your cause'". Yuki told me innocently. Only that she wasn't an innocent girl.

Hotaru smirked, "Good job."

"Why, thank you for your praise. Now, why can't you be like that, Mikan-chan?" Yuki turned to me with a devious gleam in her eyes.

"Like what?" I huffed.

"More like a… sophisticated young girl. And your fashion sense!" Yuki tutted, "It's terrible! Hotaru, don't you agree with me?"

Hotaru nodded and I scowled at them. There was nothing wrong with my fashion sense! I had taken a quick shower after entering Hotaru's room and threw on a shirt and track pants. There wasn't anything marginally wrong with the outfit!

Was there?

"You ought to know better than that, Mikan." Yuki chided and she turned to Hotaru, "Haven't the other girls said something about her appearance yet?"

Hotaru smirked at me as I silently begged her not to tell Yuki. "Oh yes." My hope were shattered. "Nonoko, Anna and Sumire have been working on her. Would you like to meet them?" Hotaru pressed a button on a remote control and iron cuffs immediately trapped me to the couch.

"No, Hotaru! How could you do this to me!" I screamed as Yuki exited the room quickly with my friend. "Please, don't leave me here!"

"Don't worry, Mikan. We'll be back in a few moments." Yuki smirked as they closed the door. I hung my head. I'm doomed.

Much later… Much much later…

I stumbled into my room and collapsed on my bed. I couldn't believe that I had to endure twelve hours of dressing with them!

"Mikan."

I sat up immediately and turned. It was Mother. I relaxed.

"What is it, Mother?" I asked as she came out from the shadows and sat down next to me.

"The plan is proceeding. We will be ready for the final fight in three days." She told me soberly, "Are you ready?"

I gulped. "Yes."

"The high school students will defend the academy with their inventions. The middle school students will protect the elementary school students, but we will also let the elementary school students fight. Those who support us, at the very least. The elementary school principal will be handed over to his clone. We know that that's all the clone will want, anyway…" Mother paused.

"The middle school principal wants Shiki to take over after the fight. So he will be acting as the middle school principal then. As for the elementary school principal… I think Jinno would be the best choice, since he is always cool-headed in any kind of situations…" Mother told me.

"Jin-Jin? I think Naru will be better." I grinned at Mother. She smiled.

"That might be so… Which reminds me, your friend Yukiko told us a lot of interesting things… In fact, the fight would be very easy to win once we've managed to produced the weapons that would counterattack theirs and some more that will attack them." Mother told me.

I nodded.

"I have to go back now." Mother looked up at the clock. "Good night, Mikan." She leaned forward and embraced me before disappearing out of my room. I sat on the bed for a little while longer before standing and walking to the window.

The moon was full and bright. I thought about the past few days and the upcoming battle. Hopefully, we would win and things in the academy would start to move perfectly. No more bitterness and hate towards the people here… A new era within the academy that would help the students learn to forgive their parents and allow them to learn to fit in with the other students. A whole family within the academy…

That would be nice.

I opened my eyes and looked at the moon again. For a moment, a red shadow slipped over it and it turned bloody red. When I blinked again, it was gone. I shook my head, hoping that it was a trick of light and that nothing bad would happen…


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

"_Are the weapons ready yet, Hotaru?"_

"_Nearly. I just have to get the power source for them…"_

"_Do you think we could go back to the past?"_

"_What?"_

"_Do you… think that our relationship could be like what we had in the past?"_

'…'

"_Mikan…?"_

"_Oh, Natsume, my feelings never changed, you know."_

_A moment of surprise._

"_What? You didn't think that I didn't love you? Of course I did!"_

"_Thank you…Thank you so much…"_

"_They're on their way, Mother! Yuki just saw it!"_

"_They're here!"_

The last two days of preparation had been worth it, I thought as I used my Shadow Manipulation Alice to trip the invaders. Hotaru was manning the main machines of defense and everything was progressing well.

Well, I had to admit that one part of our plan was unaccomplished and that was kicking the elementary school principal out. He had managed to sneak out of our trap and he had escaped from the Academy. It was infuriating, but we would deal with him when he came back. Uncle and the Middle School Principal had already agreed to support us and I knew that there was a good chance of overthrowing the Elementary School Principal.

"Mikan, they need you down by the entrance! They've got Kisaragi using his Pheromone Alice there!"

"Sure!" I shouted back and dashed through the grounds, heading for the main entrance. The Middle School Principal's condition had started to deteriorate and Mother could do nothing to improve her weakening health. The Middle School Principal told her not to worry and that this was what she had wished for a long time ago.

"**Stand down!" **

I was unprepared by the sudden Pheromone-enhanced shout and staggered. Reo? Wait… Reo was already in jail… unless Kisaragi had the same Alice…

I had never known what kind of Alice Kisaragi had and no one in Black Halloween seemed to know. Well, until now. But if he was a voice-pheromone user, it would also explain the missing memories that Yuki sometimes forgot.

"Well, well… look what we have here." I looked up and met the chilling blue eyes of Kisaragi. "Sakura Mikan, Nullification Alice, Stealing Alice Teleportation Alice and Duplication Alice… the only person to have four Alices!"

"Yeah, so?" I said, unimpressed by his stunts. "Got a problem with that?"

Kisaragi looked surprised for a moment before he remembered. "Nullification! I can't use my Alice on you anymore…" he hissed angrily.

"I'm so glad that you figured that out! And then?" I layered the sarcasm on thickly. "Are you going to harm poor little me?"

Kisaragi snarled and pulled a gun out, aiming it at me.

"Wow! That's a big plus! You finally learnt how to use a gun! … After ten years, huh…" I sneered and he fired.

Of course, the bullet never reached me because I moved out of the way. Activating my Voice Pheromone, I coupled it with the Enhancement Alice and placed a barrier around the students before I said, _**"STAND DOWN!"**_

All the invaders within a ten mile radius of me collapsed to the ground immediately. I smirked at my success.

"Sakura! We need you at the Elementary School building! Your mother is there and she's negotiating with the clone of the Elementary School Principal!" Hotaru's voice sounded from the badge pinned on my uniform.

"I'm going now!"

I teleported to the area immediately and saw my mother, Azumi Yuka standing with a middle aged man. He bore a remarkable resemblance to the Elementary School Principal and I knew him to be the clone.

"Mother!" I called out, reaching her side. The man arched an eyebrow at me and turned to Yuka.

"Your daughter?"

"Yes. Mikan, this is the Elementary School Principal. Sir, meet my daughter, Sakura Mikan." Mother introduced. I frowned.

"What's going on?" I asked her, "How can this be the Elementary School Principal?"

The man cleared his throat. "I'm afraid that's my problem. You see, years ago, when I was still a young man, I made the mistake of using my Alice with the Enhancement Alice and… the result of that incident was the current Elementary School Principal. The Enhancement Alice powered that clone so much that it has almost become a normal person, as from what you can see. I have been searching for him for a very long time as I wished to stop him from creating too much chaos. However, it seems that he has escaped again." He explained.

"So you are the original and he is the clone?" I asked slowly, still not quite understanding.

"Yes." He sighed, "Well, your mother took a bit of his 'life' away when she inserted Persona's Alice into him, so he has a child-like appearance."

"But he escaped." I said.

"Yes, I know that."

A pregnant pause.

"So… what do we do now?"

"Are you sure that this will lure him here?" I asked nervously as I prepared myself.

"Of course." The original ESP (Elementary School Principal) replied. "In fact, he will come to find you when he receives news that the stealing alice is in you. In the meantime, though…" he looked at the battlefield beneath them, "This will have to continue."

"It's the only way, Mikan." Mother told me, a reassuring smile on her face.

"So all I need to do is steal your Alice from you?" I asked again.

"Yes," the original ESP said, "Now, hurry! The sooner we're over with this, the sooner you can treat to your friends."

I looked down at the battlefield in concern. I could see balls of flame erupting in the midst every now and then. Natsume. He wasn't allowed to use his Alice too much, but I knew that he would overuse it for the sake of me and his friends.

"Here we go." I took a deep breath and watched the original ESP split himself into several clones. They all ran at me at the same time and I hurriedly used my Teleportation Alice to appear behind him. Then, I grabbed his arm and hurriedly started to steal his Alice from him.

When the clones realized that I was stealing the Alice, they made a hundred eighty turn and started to run back towards me. I quickly used the Doppelganger Alice and made myself invisible at the same time. The clones started to chase after my Doppelgangers, but in no time, they had all vanished. Only the original ESP was left.

"Great work!" he told me as I returned his Alice to him. "I'm sure he'll return soon…"

"Sir, we've received news of a girl with the Stealing Alice inside the Academy!"

The ESP clone looked up. "Who is she?"

"Sakura Mikan, sir."

"What?"

"She went by the name of Azumi Sakura, that is why no one found out about her secret."

"Get me back immediately. We must catch her!"

"He's coming." The original ESP announced, looking out over the buildings. It had been two hours since we had our fight and the fight had been paused for a while. Both sides had agreed to resume the battle the next day.

"That was fast." Mother commented as she sipped on some juice. She was still recovering from the injuries she had received from the earlier conflict with Kisaragi.

"It's to be expected." The original ESP told her, "After all, he is on a mad hunt for someone with the Stealing Alice after you inserted that stone into him."

Mother shrugged, a flicker of anger dancing in her eyes. "He deserved it."

"Mikan!"

A shout stopped our conversation and we watched as my friends clambered onto the rooftop. They stopped to stare at the original ESP.

"Who's that, Mikan?" Hotaru asked me. I exchanged looks with the two before I started to tell them about the ESP and his clone…

"So you mean to say that he's the original of the ESP and that our ESP was his clone?" Tsubasa asked when I completed my story. I nodded.

"And that the ESP clone is coming back to get you." Hotaru said.

I nodded again.

"Why did you allow yourself to be bait!" Hotaru moaned, "Do you know how much danger you'll be in, Mikan?"

I shrugged, "It's for the greater good." I told her as I met Natsume's eyes.

He looked angry, but he had restrained himself from berating me. That was good, right? If Natsume started on me… well, there'd be lots of fires around and that wouldn't be good for his health. In any case, he looked exhausted.

"Sit down, all of you look exhausted." I told them and smiled gently. They had done so much for the Academy and they had been willing to stand by my side. I was grateful to them for their support.

"There's nothing we can do now but wait." The original ESP told us as he stretched out on the rooftop. "I'll tell you when he comes along."

And he started snoring.

"He's a fast sleeper." Shizuka said after staring at him in surprise for a few moments. Everyone nodded their agreement.

"Are you sure you're going to be alright, Mikan?" Nonoko asked me, worried. "After all, he's going capture you for a few moments before the original ESP can stop him."

"I trust him and all of you to save me." I replied, smiling at them. "Besides, it's not like he can do anything bad, can he?"

"I don't know about that, Mikan…" Yuki replied to my question. "But there has to be a sacrifice for this… and that person has already given her consent."

"What?" I asked sharply. "What do you see, Yuki?"

"I can't tell you." Yuki looked sad. "If I do, what you wish wouldn't come to pass and besides, we can't do anything about it."

"But—"

"No, Mikan. Let Yuki keep her secrets." Mother interrupted. "This is to be."

I felt a sense of dread creep over my skin. "You don't mean that…"

The original ESP sat up suddenly. Everyone stared at him.

"He's here."

~~{~~{~~}~~}~~

The moment I stepped out of the building, I was seized by two thugs wearing black. They sneered at me before pulling me away into the shadows.

"Stupid doll." One of them muttered and I had to refrain from frying him.

"I can't even imagine why we have to capture a girl from this freak place." The other one agreed. Freak place? Why was he even in this freak place when everyone here could blast him into pieces?

"The payment's too good for one like her." Number one thug murmured to his companion. I'd show him what's too good for a payment for him!

"Show some respect, doll!" Number two thug had seen my glare and he punched my face. I let my mask cover up and set my mind to imagining the horrific consequences for these two thugs once I was free from the ESP clone.

##((#(#)#))##

"Excellent job… Bring her in." the door opened to reveal the ESP clone.

"Hello, Sakura Mikan, I see that you have done a good job of avoiding my detection… Too bad it didn't work." The ESP clone told me smugly.

I turned my face away from him and made an effort to step on his feet—which was hard as I was standing quite far away from him.

"It would please me very much if you would use your Stealing Alice to retrieve an Alice stone from my body…" The ESP principal started to say when I cut him off.

"Oh dear but if I steal all the Alices from your body, won't you vanish from this world?" I mocked him. "Mr. clone of another person?"

The clone turned pale. "How do you… how did you…" he stammered.

"I met your original self," I told him, "He told me some interesting stories about you…"

The ESP clone looked to his two goons and pointed at me. "Kill her!" he ordered them.

I stared at him in amazement, barely noticing that the two thugs had raised their guns. "Don't you want the Stealing Alice?" I asked him.

"I would rather find a person who doesn't know about my past to remove this stone from me!" the clone spat at me before he ordered the thugs to shoot.

Still stunned by the change in events, I stood rooted to the ground and by the time I snapped out from my daze, the men were already firing at me. I closed my eyes, knowing that I would not be able to avoid death this time.

Years ago, Kai, my brother had taken this blow for me. Years later, the bullets that were meant for me would kill me.

After a few moments, I opened my eyes, realizing that the bullets had not hit me. Someone else had taken my place.

Mother.

She sank to the ground, her blood staining the ground a reddish brown. I sank down beside her, unable to believe the scene in front of me. "Mother!" I finally cried. "Why!"

"Mi…kan…" Mother smiled gently at me. Then, she was gone.

I heard the ruckus around me as the clone was caught and the original ESP destroyed him. I felt Natsume, Luca and Hotaru approach me, along with my classmates, Yuki and Shizuka.

_There would be a sacrifice…_

I understood Yuki's words, now. She had been talking about my mother. My mother would save me, like Kai saved me. She had known that she would die for my sake, for the sake of these children. Tears dripped down my face. My mother had died to help us; my brother had died to save me. Now, I had to help them.

I raised up my head and smiled sadly at my friends. "I'll be alright." I told them.

The sun shone brightly onto the grounds. The injured students were being tended to by Imai-senpai and other students who had the healing alice. The resistant forces had been overcome by the original ESP's forces hours ago.

"It's over, finally."


	17. Chapter 17

AN: This is the last chap! Thanks for all your support!

Epilogue

It had been one year since Mother died.

We have made many changes to the academy since then. For example, children with Alices would enter the Academy at any age older than three years old. The children would be allowed to return to their parents every year for a short period of time.

"Mikan-chan!" Mikan turned around and smiled as a few elementary school students came bouncing up to her. "There's no class for today… so will you tell us about the creator of Bear-san?" they asked her.

"Of course," Mikan agreed readily. "Come, let's go on down to find Bear-san while I tell you the story…"

Life was peaceful in the Academy. The children here were happy, everyone had started to forgive the authorities for their harsh decisions, and some of them had learnt to forget the past hatreds. Everyone was happy.

"Mikan!" I turned around to see Natsume hurrying towards me.

"Oh, Natsume, good timing. We were just going to see Bear-san. Would you like to come along?" I asked him brightly, enjoying the change in his expression as I uttered the words 'Bear-san'.

"You're still visiting that mad toy? Even though it nearly took my head off three times?" Natsume asked with a teasing tone. I beamed.

"Of course! He's my best friend and I promised Kaname-senpai to look after him, did I not?" I demanded. "So are you coming along or not?"

"Natsume-nii!" one of the young ones greeted him enthusiastically, "Are you coming with us and Mikan-neechan? If you want to stay behind, it's alright! We'll have Mikan-neechan all to ourselves, then!"

Natsume glared at the child and the child smirked at him. I sighed. Natsume and the juniors were always arguing over who would get to spend more time with me. I don't understand why they want to argue over such a trivial matter, but… it's up to them.

Natsume had engaged himself in a ferocious argument with Anju, the child who had taunted him. And it seemed like the Elementary School kids were backing the latter up. Natsume seemed to be losing rather spectacularly. It had been nearly eleven months since Natsume and I became a couple, so…

"What on earth are you arguing about?"

I turned to see Hotaru, Luca and Shizuka walking towards us. "The usual. Again." I told her shortly. The trio laughed when they heard this and Shizuka commented, "You seem to be very popular with the kids, Mikan."

"I'll bet." A voice said from behind me.

"Yuki!" I turned around and gave my friend a hug. "It's been so long since you visited!"

"That gave me a scare," Luca sighed as Hotaru kept her Baka cannon away. "You shouldn't do that so often, Yukiko-san!"

"I'm sorry. It's a habit." Yuki smiled at him sweetly. But I knew that she wasn't happy about Luca's comment.

"Hey… guys? Are you coming along, or what?" I called to the small group. I was already a good distance from them, as I had taken the chance to walk down the path while they were talking.

"Come on!" the Elementary School children called to each other as they raced to catch up with me. Yes, everything was peaceful in Alice Academy.

"So, how's things going, Naru-sensei?" I asked as I danced into the room. "Feeling the pressure from Jin-Jin and Misaki-sensei yet?"

"Mikan!" My godfather stared at me in amazement. "How did you get here?"

"How else?" I smiled and waited for him to figure out how I had gotten in.

"You teleported? No… you can't teleport into the Elementary School Division that easily… the Invisibility Alice?" he hazarded a guess.

"Nope!" I popped the word on the 'p'. "Human Pheromones Alice." I grinned at him.

"You promised not to use that!" Narumi cried after a few stunned moments. My smile widened.

"What can I say? It was too tempting _not _to use it." I told him as I settled myself on his desk. "So, are things going smoothly?"

Narumi nodded. "The Principals have agreed that you can take the Elementary School Principal's position once you've graduated from High School. Of course, I agreed with them since I liked my position as a teacher better. I'm just not cut out for this kind of work!"

"Misaki's going to have a hard time with you." I noted as I spun a pen in my hand. "I wish him luck in your developing relationship."

Godfather flushed, surprisingly. "How did you… How did you find out?"

I smirked, "It's so obvious, Naru-sensei? Besides, you're thinking of him now, right? I've got the Mind-reading Alice, remember?"

"Get out of my head!"

I chuckled. This would make good blackmail material…

Although Mother was no longer with me, I had my friends and Natsume supporting me. The pain was slowly fading, leaving an ache behind. She had risked her life to save me and with that, the future of the children coming to Alice Academy. In accordance to her wish, I would be the Elementary School Principal in a couple of year's time.

Life was really tranquil now. The Academy was no longer the prison of bitterness, hate and sadness it was once before. With this, we could walk into the future…

And with the future, new hopes would come.

We could do this. Natsume, I, and my fellow classmates. In the memory of Yuka, my mother, this would become our goal too.

The End.


	18. Sequel

Hello to the Readers:

I was planning on a small sequel to My Life, but I don't know whether you would like a multi-chapter one or a one-shot.

If you would like a one-shot, what would you want it to be about? Likewise for multi-chapter. Bad guys and stuff? Or would you like one that has small shots from her life? Details about what you would like. I can't gurantee that these will make it into the sequel, but I would love the ideas. And they can hopefully spark a plot bunny...

I'm not going to write about future generations... but I will definitely be bringing around Mikan's adaptation to being Elementary Principal in the sequel.

PM me if you want this sequel and most importantly, the DETAILS (mentioned above)... I'll be posting the poll on my profile to let you choose a one-shot or multi-chapter.

Thanks!

Akirina

**RECENT UPDATES:**

The sequel has been posted! It's called [My Future].


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